Lulu the Broadway Mouse by Jenna Gavigan Published by Running Press Kids on October 9, 2018
Genres: Middle Grade, Contemporary Fantasy
Pages: 256
Source: NetGalley
My content rating: MG
My rating:
Ratatouille meets Broadway in this charming new middle grade novel about a little mouse with big dreams.
Lulu is a little girl with a very big dream: she wants to be on Broadway. She wants it more than anything in the world. As it happens, she lives in Broadway's Shubert Theatre; so achieving her dream shouldn't be too tricky, right? Wrong. Because the thing about Lulu? She's a little girl mouse.
When a human girl named Jayne joins the cast of the show at the Shubert as an understudy, Lulu becomes Jayne's guide through the world of her theatre and its wonderfully kooky cast and crew. Together, Jayne and Lulu learn that sometimes dreams turn out differently than we imagined; sometimes they come with terms and conditions (aka the company mean girl, Amanda). But sometimes, just when we've given up all hope, bigger and better dreams than we'd ever thought could come true, do.
This book is just plain cute. Since I was a theatre major in college, I loved all the references to how Broadway and theatre in general work. I think any little kid with dreams of being on the stage would really enjoy this story (and learn a lot from it too). The style is sort of interesting because it’s really pretty much a contemporary MG set in a Broadway theatre—except the MC happens to be a mouse. I was expecting a bit more fantasy elements or something, but honestly, Lulu could have been a little girl and the story wouldn’t have been all that different. I’m not sure if that’s a positive or a negative about the book, it’s just a fact. I’m not sure how much the book will appeal to kids who aren’t already interested in the theatre since it’s not super plot-heavy, but if you know any kids who are at all interested in being onstage, this would definitely be for them.
Overall, I thought this was a sweet story of following your dreams and learning to work with others.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
About The Author
Jenna Gavigan, a fourth generation New Yorker, grew up dreaming of Broadway. At age sixteen she made her Broadway debut in Gypsy, opposite Bernadette Peters. Since then she’s appeared in a half-dozen films, on more than a dozen television shows, and on east and west coast stages, most recently Off-Broadway in the world premiere of Straight. Jenna graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Creative Writing, where she focused on fiction, television, and screenwriting. She lives in a teeny tiny Manhattan apartment with her husband, Kevin. This is her first novel.
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