but when Spruce went looking for Poppy, he discovered the fire that started on Bannock Hill! While he was hiding, he heard loud galloping and a soft plop and went out and found Poppy! They went to 'Poppy's funeral' and she told her kids to go out in different directions to see if the fire had surrounded them, and it had. When poppy got caught by a bat, who thought Poppy was a moth, it made an even bigger adventure. I didn't like how Rye died, but it opened a whole new opportunity for an adventure. And, I like that neither Poppy nor Ereth died. I liked the way Poppy and Bounder formed an alliance in the face of a common threat, similar to the way the animals were united against the threat of man in Ereth's Birthday. I even lamented the fact that Rye never saw the beauty of a bat cave. I liked Spruce, Luci, and the whole bat colony.

Still, after all that, this book managed a 3-star rating from me. Rather than the fire simply being an act of nature, it's almost as if Ragweed and Poppy (with her decision to put the earring in the tree) were direct causes of the mass destruction. What would happen to all the wildlife in the meantime?Īlso, I just didn't like the idea of Ragweed's earring being the cause of the fire. Yes, this book left us with one small sign of hope.

I would have preferred to say goodbye to Poppy and Ereth while also preserving the knowledge that future generations of wildlife would make their homes and find their own adventures within the same forest. I think a forest fire as a central plot element was good, but was it really necessary to burn the whole forest down? Destroying all of Dimwood Forest seemed too final, as if the end of our time with Poppy should be equivalent to the end of Dimwood Forest, period. His bizarre speech and behavior at Poppy's 'funeral' seemed to be out of character for him. Yes, he was grumpy and short-tempered, but he loved Poppy, and he was not self-centered. So, what happened to him!?Įreth, one of my favorite characters throughout the series, also left me feeling disappointed. Moreover, Mephitis's complete absence was particularly troublesome because the previous book led us to believe that he and Ereth would be living together, like a family. At the very least, it would have been nice to find out if they ever did visit Ereth. A passing mention was made of the three foxes, but I would have liked to have seen them interact with Ereth again. In the introduction, the author specifically states that he 'worked hard to join many of the characters, events, and memories of the previous five books.' With that kind of set-up, I was especially disappointed that Mephitis, Nimble, Tumble, and Flip did not appear in this book. This is the last book of the Tales of Dimwood Forest series.

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