Oh Mercy! Book Review: Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride

Some of you might know that I'm currently in school to get my licence to become a school library media specialist.  It's something I should've done years ago, but at least I'm going back to it now!

Throughout the program I take classes on picking books for different grade levels.  This summer I was introduced to the Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillo and fell in love with them!!! They are the cutest books ever.

I want to review one of the books, so maybe you'll get a taste of how cute these are.

Title: Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride
Mr. and Mrs. Watson's porcine wonder, Mercy, loves nothing more than a ride in the car. It takes a fair amount of nudging and bribing and a "You are such a good sport, darling" to get the portly pig out of the driver's seat, but once the convertible is on the road, Mercy loves the feel of the wind tickling her ears and the sun on her snout. One day the Watsons' motoring ritual takes an unexpected turn, however, when their elderly neighbor Baby Lincoln pops up in the backseat in hopes of some "folly and adventure" — and in the chaos that ensues, an exuberant Mercy ends up behind the wheel! Soon there's a policeman on her tail, a struggle for the brake, and a blissfully airborne Mercy. Of course, it's nothing that an extra helping of buttered toast can't fix! 

For me one of the strength of this book is the facial expressions of Mercy.  If you look at the cover you get just a taste of them.  In this book they are fantastic as Mercy's car ride turns out nothing like she expected! I actually giggled at some of them! As a teacher I could so see using them to teach students about drawing inferences.  Her face says so much! The faces of the others in the car do too, but it was Mercy's I loved.  The other thing I love about this series is it's retro feel.  It looks like a book that might have been written long before it actually was.  I found that so enduring.  I went into this book a little hesitant since I'm not a huge reader of this age group, but I left it smiling!