Babymouse: Skater Girl

Babymouse #7

by Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm

Meet Babymouse--the spunky mouse beloved by young readers for more than a decade! When Babymouse shows everyone her talent on the ice, she gets discovered by the famous Coach Bearnakorva. Will her dreams of getting a medal finally come true? This groundbreaking young graphic novel series, full of humor and fun, is a bestseller that’s sold more than three million copies!
 
"Move over, Superman, here comes Babymouse!"— The Chicago Sun-Times

THE G.O.A.T. Best Gymnast. Best speller. Best kazoo player. It seems everyone has a talent except Babymouse. That is, until Babymouse takes to the ice and surprises everyone with her spectacular spins and jubilant jumps. Then the famous Olympic coach, Coach Bearnakorva, discovers her and asks Babymouse to be her new protege. Will Babymouse's dreams of a medal come true? Or is she treading on thin ice? Find out in Skater Girl —the 7th hilarious, action-packed installment of the beloved Babymouse graphic novel series!

DON'T MISS The BIG Adventures of Once Upon a Messy Whisker , the newest, brightest, and BIGGER THAN EVER graphic novel from BABYMOUSE!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Childrens, Comics, Middle Grade, Humor, Fiction, Sports

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Jennifer L. Holm is a USA TODAY and NEW YORK TIMES-bestselling children's author with more than 9.8 million books in print She is the recipient of three Newbery Honors for her novels OUR ONLY MAY AMELIA, PENNY FROM HEAVEN, and TURTLE IN PARADISE and a Scott O'Dell Award for her novel FULL OF BEANS.

Jennifer collaborates with her brother, Matthew Holm, on three bestselling graphic novel series -- the Eisner Award-winning Babymouse series, the SUNNY series, and the Squish series. SQUISH is now an animated tv series on YouTube!

For more information, visit her website at www.jenniferholm.com.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for the Olympics - so love. Babymouse has a natural talent - she can skate well. One day a coach notices her and invites her to join the skate team to win the gold medal. She wants the glory of gold. She quickly realizes being a serious skater isn't fun, it's hard work and sacrifice on a daily basis. There isn't much life.

She eventually figures out having friends and fun is more important. I really enjoyed this story and thought it was well done. It actually had a message and it was funny. I'm also glad it showcased Babymouses natural talent.

I'm glad I read this with the Olympics. It was a good choice.

[Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

My daughter challenged me to read the "whole entire Babymouse series" - I told her I'd meet her half-way and read one of them. This was the one. Babymouse decides to be an Olympic Gold Medalist skater. She has the natural talent and is accepted by the world-famous skating coach. But after a week or three Babymouse decides that there are better things to do in life than pursue a single dream to the exclusion of everything else, so she gives up and quits skating. Summary is proof that I read it.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Babymouse stares longingly at the trophies in the school trophy case, none of which bear her name, remembering all of her less-than-thrilling “honorable mentions” and wishing that she could get a trophy of her own. Chances for glory come in unexpected places, however. As Babymouse is skating with her friends on a pond one day a famous figure skating coach stops her and invites her to train at the ice rink after school. With dreams of being an ice princess, Babymouse joyfully shows up for practice after practice, only to find out that it isn’t quite what she expected.

Yet again Jennifer and Matthew Holm have woven a delightful Babymouse story. This one is not quite as sharp as some of their previous titles, but for readers who already love this character and her world it will be more than satisfying. The ending is predictable (we don’t actually expect Babymouse to go on to win Olympic gold medals, after all), but the way the story gets there is sometimes surprising.

It’s very nice to see a book for kids where it’s ok for the main character to quit something. So often we end up with book after book after book repeating “I think I can” and showing kids working hard for impossible dreams and succeeding, which is great, but not always realistic. Sometimes you just can’t, or you choose not to, and both of those circumstances are ok. For Babymouse, it was ok. Even her mom said so!

I’m constantly impressed with the art in this series. It never gets repetitive or dull. Every installment is fresh and exploding with energy. The spare color palette (black, white and pink) makes for easy visual transitions between what is real and what is happening in Babymouse’s imagination. Still, I’m not sure I’ve quite figured out how much is real about the weirdnesses in her locker and that’s just fine with me!

While this isn’t the best of the Babymouse books, it’s certainly still a wonderful book and I highly recommend it. Babymouse may not be a skating star, but she is still a blast to read about!

[Olivia Lavelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This babymouse graphic novel was a cute book. I can see why children of a young age would be so attuned to such a book. Skater Girl brought out an fantastic message to the audience, it shows a little girl trying to accomplish her hobby as a sport, to WIN the big gold trophy. The lesson to be learned in this book is, nothing in life is going to come easy without putting in hard work and effort! I thought this message was really clear especially with the previous examples of her QUITTING streak in mouse scouts, ballet, and babysitting. I'm glad that at the end she made her own decision and was happy with her end result. Her friendship and her cupcakes meant the most to her. I would definitely recommend this graphic novel to any child, because they could learn lessons and enjoy the novel all at once.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the cupcake Babymouse makes on the ice.

Love the Little Engine that Could dream.

Love that (slight spoiler here) her friends make her a trophy.

I'm not quite as sure about how I feel about her quitting. I mean, the mom's quote about "Sometimes you have to quit to find out what makes you happy" can be true. If it means going outside of your comfort zone and quitting "the norm" to try something new. And not enough time to read? Egads. And no cupcakes? Umm ...

BUT ... that was not quite clear in the book. I almost ... well, maybe I have become one of those nitpicky people. Would have liked to see something added to the story so it didn't just seem like Babymouse quit because it was too much work.

[Annie Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a mouse named "Babymouse" who's a natural at skating. She gets trained by an Olympic coach and she is always dreaming of a medal. Later on Babymouse quits because it was much harder than she expected and it took up too much time.

I picked this book up because I read this series and I haven't read this one yet.

I finished this book because I wanted to know if Babymouse won her medal or not.

I recommend this book to Lucy or Helen because they read this series and they both skate.

[Woodrós · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed seeing Babymouse working really hard for something she really wanted - a change in the formula and a real page turner of a book. :)

I feel like this one was not only fun, with a nicely frosted ending, it also could spark conversations about values and priorities and what it costs to be the best.


(Sadly, I was reading the hard cover version. I really missed the pre-book cartoon on the front flap and the funnily decorated drawing of Jennifer & Matt Holm I've come to know and love in the softer covered editions.)

[MayBelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good. I want to figure skate too.

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because this book does not exactly have a message but i loved how the story ended and begun. So i gave this book 5 STARS!

[Helen Trott · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a awesome book!

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm ... reading this from an adult perspective, having checked the book out from the library for my daughter. It’s ... not bad. But it wasn’t really very good either. There was some choppiness, and some things that seemed as if they might be difficult to connect for younger readers. Still, there were cute moments. So it wasn’t a book for me, daughter might love it :)

[Kristen Gregoire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book! I found this book in the West Elementary Library as I was there with my students. Out loud i said “oooo ice skating” & had to check it out. SO cute!! A nice lesson in a comic book format. LOVED this short story. ⛸️❤️😊

[KerriRowland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Babymouse #7: Skater Girl is all about being the best at something. Everyone that surrounds Babymouse has an amazing talent except her, until she laces up her ice skates and takes off! Everyone is taken by surprise with her great talents on the ice. Coach Bearnakorva sees her on the ice one day and asks to coach her. He believes she has great talent. Coach B and Babymouse dream of winning the medal in the beginning until it turns out that they are not on the same page on how they feel about training to take the trophy.
The book provides lessons to be learned on what some feel is important enough to take a trophy. What we think we want, we may not be willing to fight that hard for or give up some of our favorite pleasures, like cupcakes in order to win an award. Babymouse is a sweet, innocent girl who has big dreams, but realizes quickly it may not be worth what she thought!
This is the first Babymouse book I've read. I did think the black and white images with a touch of pink are cute for girl readers, but I can’t say I think the writing is “cute”. I actually think it teaches kids the wrong message about discipline. It makes the coach look bad for trying to instill good work ethic and a healthy diet. It gave me the impression that it’s ok to just drop out of something if too difficult. Cute idea, bad message in my opinion.

[Emily Allmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to other people if you like comic books. It's kind of a comic book but it's close enough. It's a short book. It only takes one day to read it. It's only 91 pages.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ice skating coach notices Babymouse’s skills on the pond and recruits her to do some serious training with hopes of big trophies and Olympic gold. At first Babymouse is thrilled to know her skills have such promise, but after several days of grueling training, she isn’t sure trophies are worth the lack of sleep…or cutting cupcakes out of her diet.

I like how this one gives a healthy dose of reality. There’s lots of youngsters with huge dreams in the middle grades, and hopefully Babymouse can help some of them figure out how much they really want to pursue those dreams. This one would make a good conversation started about what dreams readers consider worth pursuing and how far they’d go for those dreams. Of course, since Babymouse is delivering this message it is done quite comically.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Some bumps and bruises from skating practice but no other violence.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the seventh book in the Babymouse series by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm. The plot centers on Babymouse trying to learn to ice skate competitively and pursue the gold.

I like that it depicts the hard reality of competitive sports and the sacrifices that must be made to reach the elite level. I may be a lazy mom, but I don't really wish that kind of life for our girls. I love watching them just be kids...

Our youngest really likes these books. They are quick reads and she read two of these books in a day. I'm sure that we'll quickly read through this series.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to Caleb poolside in Lombok. We both enjoyed the pictures. He enjoys differentiating between the pink pages which illustrate Babymouse's excellent imagination, and the normal black and white pages. He often asks, "Now, are we back to the real Part?" and I usually answer, "As real as a babymouse ice-skating can be..."

Some of the themes in this one struck home. Often my kids are awed by trophies, and the want to be the very best at something. In this graphic novel, Babymouse is applying herself to become the best ice skater--but it is a lot of work and a lot of time. She has to wake up early, she cannot spend time with her friends, and worst of all--she has to give up cupcakes! She perseveres for a time, but then decides that the sacrifices are not worth it. Her friends declare that she is the Best Babymouse.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Babymouse loves to ice skate and she has the natural talent that Coach Bernakova is looking for in a winner. When the coach discovers Babymouse skating at the neighborhood pond, she volunteers to coach her.

With training, determination and the right coach, Babymouse could win a gold trophy. Babymouse has never been good at anything so she is excited about her chances. Babymouse throws herself into becoming a winning skater. She learns that hard work, early morning and afternoon practices, and dieting are necessary. Will her determination win out? Will she win a gold trophy?

This is the seventh book created by the sister and brother team Jennifer and Matthew Holm. Babymouse is a lovable, sympathetic character. The sketches - in black and white with pink accents - give life to Babymouse's unique personality. Young readers are sure to be hooked.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Babymouse: Skater Girl” By Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm, is a cleaver story about a mouse and her want for a trophy. Though she has tried many different hobbies and sports, she has never won a trophy. This leads her to try a new sport, Ice Skating. This graphic illustrated to its readers what a commitment is. “Babymouse: Skater Girl” also teachers its reader that although it is important to have a passion, it is important to enjoy life as well. Its illustrations are enjoyable, funny, and easy to follow. I would recommend this book to grades 2-5. That is because it may not be a hard read, however, it’s lesson it aimed to students of an older age. I would use this book to help students who may be struggling with reading, to help bust their confidence.

[babyhippoface · Rating 3 out of 5]

In her signature black, white, and pale pink, Babymouse is back in this seventh graphic novel/comic. Discovered at the local frozen pond by a well-known ice skating coach who invites her to train at the rink, Babymouse jumps at the chance. The visions of grandeur floating through her mind cannot overcome the stress of 4:30 alarms, a super-competitive teammate, exhaustion, and--worst of all--being deprived of cupcakes. This has become a well-established series, and fans will eagerly seek out this newest title, while the metallic snowflakes on the cover and thick-line comics will draw in new readers.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE BABYMOUSE!! In this installment, #7 Skater Girl, Babymouse learns the meaning of working hard at skating to win the gold. Is Babymouse ready to give up time, friends, books, AND her beloved cupcakes to get her trophy? Read Skater Girl to find out what happens in this wonderful addition to the Babymouse saga! :) To reiterate what I said after reading Queen of the World, I mean to read ALL the Babymouse books. Like with anything (like cupcakes *wink*), these books need to be savored! I give this 5 out of 5 YUPIs! :>

[Abby Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latest installment in the Babymouse series finds Babymouse taking figure skating lessons. Babymouse has big dreams of winning a shiny trophy and her coach thinks she has natural talent. But will Babymouse have what it takes to train every day before and after school? Will she stick with the skating if it means giving up CUPCAKES??

Another hit from the Babymouse team! Plus, the shiny silver snowflakes on the cover make this a PERFECT stocking stuffer for the young reader in your life.

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another installment of Babymouse. Cute and endearing as ever, still with an elementary-friendly (but subtly-delivered) message.

The books are really, really short, though, and I wonder if it would be better to combine (say) 4 stories into one book. On the other hand, 2 at a time is about my limit for the voice, so maybe these 10-minute volumes are just about right.

[donewithdora · Rating 3 out of 5]

After bonding with one of the librarians over our affection for Mo Willems, she tracked me down as I browsed the library & put this book in my hands accompanied by a glowing recommendation. I'm not a comic book reader/lover and this is in that style. But, this was a fun, cute book and I enjoyed reading it. I look forward to reading more Babymouse adventures.

[Rhonda D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Babymouse is a 9 year old rodent who goes to school and plays like a regular girl. She has an active fantasy life that always gets her into trouble, making her late to class and dreamy when she needs to pay attention. We see her adventures along with her friend Wilson Weasel and archenemy, the popular Felicia Furrypaws. A fun easy read graphic novel.

[Lady Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, the simplicity of the text of Babymouse combined with the more complex storylines (at least in compairason to the text) are great! This time around Babymouse is discovered to be a great skater and a former olympic coach asks to train her. Excited, she says yes, and then learns just how much work is involved in working towards a trophy...

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the way that Babymouse didn't immediately give up when things got difficult and the way her parents supported her taking this chance. I also appreciated that, while she did give up, she did it because she realized her priorities were wrong and her parents supported her in that decision as well. I loved this volume.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Babymouse discovers that she has the talent to become a competition ice skater. But does she have the will power to give up all that she loves to dedicate her life to ice skating, particularly best friend Wilson and (gasp!) cupcakes?

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a wonderful graphic novel series for girls. The pages are all black, white and pink. In this novel, Babymouse is determined to be the best ice skater in her school. Once she learns how hard it is will she continue?

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's nice to see Babymouse (kind of) come out on top. In this installment, she has the potential to be a really great skater, but maybe not the dedication. Something I can definitely relate to (although not with skating). Plus, the pink, white and black illustrations really look great with snow.