The Babymouse series, written by author Jennifer L. Holm and illustrated by her brother, freelance graphic artist Matthew Holm, are cute, silly, and unabashedly pink, making them an enjoyable alternative to the majority of superhero-centric graphic novels for young readers.

In Babymouse: Dragonslayer, Babymouse receives a well-deserved F-minus on a math test. She's been spending math class daydreaming about her beloved fantasy novels, imagining herself as the heroine of everything from The Lord of the Rings to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Exasperated, her teacher signs her up for the school's mathlete club, where Babymouse meets--much to her surprise--a group of new friends who actually like thinking about things like cosines and prime numbers.

If you substitute insane social climbing for Babymouse's overactive imagination, the plot of Babymouse: Dragonslayer has an awful lot in common with the last half-hour of the Lindsay Lohan movie Mean Girls. And unlike Mean Girls, Dragonslayer lacks a clearly defined moral--unusual in a children's book. (Babymouse spends a lot of time flaking on her fellow Mathletes, too, but that's okay: she manages to win the Math Olympics regardless.) Still, it's impossible to dislike a book that features this many Wordcandy-approved literary references plus a nearly-mystical "Golden Slide Rule" trophy, so we're calling this one another win for the Holm siblings' sunny-tempered series.

Review based on copy provided by publisher.

Labels: Book Reviews, Graphic Novels, Kids' books