Mouseheart

Written by Lisa Fiedler

Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

The Warriors series meets Redwall in this first book in an epic animal adventure series set in the subway tunnels of Brooklyn and for “fans of Erin Hunter, Brian Jaques, and Kathryn Lasky” (School Library Journal).

Hopper is just an ordinary pet shop mouse before he escapes. Soon he finds himself below the bustling streets of Brooklyn, deep within the untamed tangles of transit tunnels, and in Atlantia, a glorious utopian rat civilization.

But all is not what it seems. Though Hopper is treated as a royal guest, he misses his siblings that he lost in the escape attempt. That, and Atlantia is constantly threatened by the rebels who wish to bring the city to its knees. And there are cats everywhere in Atlantia, cats that leave the citizens unharmed… and no one can seem to answer why.

Soon, Hopper is caught in the crosshairs of a colossal battle, one that crosses generations and species. As the clashes rage, Hopper learns terrible, extraordinary secrets: Deadly secrets about Atlantia. Painful secrets about his friends.

And one powerful secret about his destiny…

Learn more at Mouseheart.com!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: May 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781442371033

Lisa Fiedler

Lisa Fiedler is the author of many novels for children and young adults. She divides her time between Connecticut and the Rhode Island seashore, where she lives happily with her very patient husband, her brilliant and beloved daughter, and their two incredibly spoiled golden retrievers.

Reviews for Mouseheart

[sdramsey-298717 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful book in the tradition of so many with animal-centered characters. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Highly recommended for middle grade readers and anyone who loves a good rodent adventure! ;)

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hopper's life started in a Brooklyn pet store, and it looks like it's going to end there. When Hopper and his siblings overhear that the pet store owner is about to sell them as snake food, they know they must do something drastic right away. The ensuing escape results in Hopper and his siblings being split up. Hopper finds himself in the sewers, where he meets up with a friendly, streetwise young rat named Zucker, who also happens to be the prince of the underground rat kingdom of Atlantia. This kingdom seems like a paradise to Hopper, especially since, as a friend of the prince, he is given a lavish royal welcome. However, all is not as it seems in the kingdom, and revolutionaries threaten to bring it down from the outside. All Hopper wants to do is to be reunited with his lost siblings -- but does he have a larger role to play?This animal fantasy was, for me, just an okay read. I thought it was a little predictable, and Hopper's extreme naivete, though believable, was irritating to me. I'll recommend this to kids who can't get enough of this sort of story, but everyone else can probably pass on this one.

[rosenstern · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Seemingly for children, this book fits all ages. I loved it. It was a brilliantly imagined story around the rats and mice and other underlings of the New York Subway. Fiedler's talent was not depicted only in the imaginative plot and details, but in the intricacies of it all. Her writing style was great- easily understood by the younger readers but not too basic for the more experienced ones. Rats and mice and cats really come alive in this tale of courage, bravery, cruelty and the hardships of life. We see the various personalities of several characters, shaped by their circumstances. Really this book was surprisingly nuanced for a children's novel. I would definitely recommend it to all.

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I got a copy of this book from Amazon Vine for review. It looked like an interesting middle grade fantasy adventure featuring animals. It ended up being a pretty run of the mill "pet shop mouse finds a world bigger than he knew and finds his courage to help stop a dastardly rat from ruining the lives of other mice" type of book.Hopper is just your typical petshop mouse until he is almost fed to a snake. Then Hopper and two of his siblings escape and are swept underground to the world of Atlantia which is primarily inhabited by rats and cats. The rats and cats seem to have an uneasy truce and as Hopper learns more and more about Atlantia he learns that all is not as it seems. He also learns that he has an interesting past that is linked to a group the dwells near Atlantia.I am honestly not a huge fan of these "animal" stories. I do love Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams and Mouse Guard by David Petersen, but was not a huge fan of the Erin Hunter’s Warriors series of books. Add to that the fact that I am a fan of cats and don't really enjoy then being portrayed as the "bad guy" and I just didn't enjoy this book that much.I think it is something that my seven year old son could read, however he is also a huge cat fan and there are some pretty vicious scenes where cats are ripped up badly that I think would upset him quite a bit. I think that if the scenes were a bit less detailed, they wouldn't so upsetting. These scenes made me uncomfortable and sad, and I really felt bad for the cats involved (I think I was supposed to be rooting for the mice/rats though).The writing is very simple and done in very large font...the story falls more under stories for children as far as reading difficulty goes. It is much more simple than other middle grade fantasies I have read. However, as mentioned above some of the fighting scenes are a bit brutal so I don't really feel like children should read this. All in all I was a bit confused about what age group would read this. It's a bit too easy for most middle grade readers and too brutal for younger readers.Also I felt like this is a story I have heard a million times before. A little mouse overcomes great odds and is brave, he uncovers his past, and saves mouse-kind from vicious tyranny. If you enjoy those types of stories then this is not a bad one, but it's nothing all that great either.There is some artwork throughout but none of that was finalized in the advanced reading copy that I received, so I can't really speak to the artwork. Overall an okay animal story. The story was much more simplistic than most other middle grade fantasies that I read.. It deals with slavery and there are some vicious fight scenes...so probably not appropriate for younger kids. I guess if you are a big fan of “animals as people” type of stories this isn’t a horrible one...but there are much better types of these books out there.