The First Adventure (Tumtum and Nutmeg #1) by Emily Bearn

The First Adventure (Tumtum and Nutmeg #1) Reviews

• 
  Rebma

  I really loved the way this book started out, and enjoyed the author's use of language, but for some reason I felt let down when it came to the battle against Aunt Ivy, or the Charge of the Bright Brigade as it was known in the story. Too much military jargon for my liking, and it was an unfamiliar theme for my 6 year old. I don't mind explaining words to her, but when I suddenly had to define the words General, rifle, gas attack, war zone, hand grenades, repel, ammunition, machine gun, strategy, siege, Colonel, tactics, reconnaissance, platoon, Brigadier, troops, maim, retreat, Lieutenant, barricades... Well, it just wasn't enjoyable anymore. I didn't mind the battle itself, just not the couple of chapters leading up to it. I might still seek out the further adventures of Tumtum and Nutmeg.
• 
  Stacy268

  Tumtum and Nutmeg are two mice that live in Nutmouse Hall in the broom closet of Rose Cottage. The humans who live in Rose cottage are the Mildews; a poor family consisting of inventor Mr. Mildew and his son Arthur and daughter Lucy. Nutmouse Hall was quite grand compared to the cottage, a fact that Tumtum and Nutmeg noticed. The mice feel for the children, since Mr. Mildew is absentminded at best, and lets many daily tasks go undone. Tumtum and Nutmeg decide that they will help Arthur and Lucy out however they can.
  
  The children soon notice that things are getting fixed up in their attic room, and they leave a note asking whomever has been visiting to come and have a snack. Well Nutmeg and Tumtum decide that the children cannot know that they are talking mice, and leave the children a note that says Nutmeg is a fairy of sorts, but she cannot visit the children because her magic will fade.
  
  All seems well until Aunt Ivy comes to visit. Aunt Ivy has to stay with the Mildews since her home being cleaned out by a pest company in order to take care of her mouse problem. Aunt Ivy hates mice. Imagine what happens when she spies Nutmeg and Tumtum.
  
  This is just the first of 3 adventures that Emily Bearn has written about the mice and Nutmouse Hall. Readers meet not only Tumtum and Nutmeg, but the bumbling General Marchmouse, a band of pirate Rats, a cage full of gerbils, Miss Tiptoe's ballet school mice and many others.
  
  This is a delightful collection of stories that will make a lovely read aloud in the younger grades. This book has an old fashioned feel to it, and is perfect for fans of My Father's Dragon, Charlotte's Web, and The Green Forest books.
• 
  R. C.

  I read this when real life was angry, full of hurt and changing quickly. It was the perfect thing for that, like the world was black and this book poured white paint into it and made it actually a not at all overwhelming shade of blue. Certainly for small people but a sweet and simple read for adults who don't think it's beneath them to read books that are certainly for small people. I'm going to read it again, this time to my six-year-old.
• 
  Beth

  I think this would be a sweet read-aloud. Not terribly complex, but a pleasant enough story of two mice and their plot to vanquish the evil, mouse-hating Aunt Ivy. Conveniently, Aunt Ivy is also a burden to her human family, so a victory for mice is a victory for all.
• 
  Hannah

  The kids and I loved discovering this new series! We listened on audiobook! The plot was simple enough to follow but engaging enough to be interesting. Characters endearing. We recommend!
• 
  Miri Gifford

  Well-written, good adventure story, likable characters, but I couldn't believe this was first published in 2008 and not 1908. The antiquated gender roles were ridiculously pervasive, almost as though the author (female; ugh) had gone through a Patriarchy Checklist in creating her characters. Fun and cute, but not worth reading the rest of the series, nor will I be recommending it to any children I know until they're old enough to know why the gender roles are stupid.
• 
  R.E. Banks

  I read this and some of the books in the series when I was eight, and it STILL STANDS OUT in my mind. I remember it quite fondly. I loved these books when I was younger, but later, I could never remember the name of the series until I came across the book in a library bookstore and instantly recognized it. I would highly recommend it to children.
• 
  Elaine

  We LOVED this book. It was so funny and the girls and I had a great time reading it. I wish Tumtum and Nutmeg lived in our house and took care of us! I highly recommend this book.
• 
  Sara

  Sweet, creative, and charming.
• 
  Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)

  I was hoping for a cosy bedtime read along the lines of
  The Wind in the Willows, and the first part of it is. I loved the bit about the two mice building their great hall, and adopting the two human children who are pretty much left to their own devices by their well-meaning but oblivious inventor father. But then Aunt Ivy showed up and spoiled things. There was an increasing smell of Roald Dahl's unpleasant aunts from
  James and the Giant Peach about her, and the plot just went completely off at a tangent from there. I found the battle rather disappointing and the ending rushed. I had also hoped for better illustrations than we are offered. Also, and this is entirely personal, but--I found "Tum-tum" as a supposed endearment ("because he had such a large one") very off-putting. I don't think I can love an author who thinks that's cute, but then I was given "cute" fat-girl nicknames myself as a child and know how much they hurt.
  
  I see it's the first in yet another series. I wonder if it gets better?
• 
  Rachel

  This is a hard one for me to rate. My kids (my 5 year old son in particular) loved it but it was just okay for me. I loved the first half when TumTum and Nutmeg adopted the human kids. So sweet and fun! But the second half when Aunt Ivy comes, TumTum is out of commission, and Nutmeg summons a mouse general who summons a mouse army to literally battle Aunt Ivy was kind of weird for me. It went from sweet to very battled-oriented and not really about TumTum and Nutmeg at all. I don’t have anything against battles in certain settings but this one preyed on Aunt Ivy’s fear of mice in a bit of a torturous way. I don’t know. It just fell flat for me.
  
  I also had to edit as I read aloud, removing references to characters smoking cigarettes and the text saying they were cursing (though only once using the word “damn”). Probably not a huge deal for some people but it was for me as my kids are young (3 and 5).
  
  I might read another of these because it did keep my kids on the edge of their seats but only if I pre-read it first. So that probably won’t happen for awhile.
• 
  Amy Meyers

  I really enjoyed this sweet children's story. I listened to the audio version, which is very well done, but I was a bit annoyed at how soft it was--I could only hear it with a speaker connected. My daughter recently picked up the actual books and started reading them, and loved them, and she read a section to me, in which I was impressed with some of the vocabulary. I was tempted to give it 5 stars, but I wasn't entirely happy with the aunt theme, and scaring her to death. She deserved it, but it gave it an almost creepy cartoony feel at times, like Roald Dahl; another Roald Dahl-type issue would be that adults in the story are either fools or villains. But this book overall and in general would NOT be compared to Dahl's stories, rather contrasted. It has an old-fashioned feel, perhaps like Nesbit? I think the aunt cursed at the end. I'm going to have to black that out in the book, if so. It seems British authors are more careless about that kind of thing. Overall, very nice, however, and I think I'll get the rest of the series for my younger kids if they continue liking it.
• 
  ireneekins

  Cute, read aloud book with the girls. My five year old especially enjoyed.
• 
  Mary Porter

  This was so fun to read aloud. A story of charming and loving mice, living in a house with humans who need their love and care.
• 
  Anna Mussmann

  Not many contemporary kids’ books aim for a cute, wholesome, old-fashioned vibe; but this one does. I’m pretty sure my kids would laugh delightedly at several of the scenes.
  
  I do have a quibble, however. I couldn’t help noticing that the female characters all come across as deeper and more intelligent than the male characters. The lady mouse gets to be named “Nutmeg,” whereas her husband is “Tumtum” because of his sizable tummy. It’s Tumtum rather than Nutmeg, of course, who scarfs the mouse poison. When the mice population bands together to wage war on the villainous human, it’s Nutmeg who comes up with the winning solution--and the ridiculously pompous male mouse general who claims the credit.
  
  The pattern holds true even among the human characters. The girl is older and a bit more mature than her brother, and the father is silly enough to believe that he’s the one who fixed his machine when the work was really done by the mice.
  
  Not a huge deal, perhaps; but it’s a pattern that seems systemic--it’s so much easier to find literary tales of strong female leadership these days than tales of male leadership. Surely we want our sons to have inspirational examples to follow, too? Just a quibble, perhaps, but one I couldn’t help noticing.
  
• 
  Tarissa

  Adorable and charming in every way! These two little mice, Tumtum and Nutmeg, change the entire lives of the human children, in whose house they reside in. Such a wonderful book that young kids (4-7) will especially enjoy.
• 
  Kathryn

  Might be a bit too cutesy, but couldn't pass up a book about mice named Tumtum and Nutmeg! ;-p
• 
  Josie

  I loved this book!
  
• 
  Janae

  Very cute little chapter book. Read it to my 5 yr old and she actually paid attention. We'll be reading another.
• 
  Aimee

  Tumtum and Nutmeg is a pretty good book. I like the pictures in the book. I would give this book 3.7 stars.
• 
  Lindsay

  The kids and I loved this book! Perfect for a read aloud.
• 
  Morgan

  Fun read aloud with my 9 year old daughter
• 
  David Munday

  When my children picked this book out at a charity shop I took one look at the cover and never gave it a second thought. After all, what interest could cartoon mice hold for a 29-year-old adult? How wrong I was. When my kids had trouble sleeping this summer, my wife and I implemented a bedtime story reward system; if they stayed in bed one night, they'd get another chapter before bed the next. Thanks to Tumtum and Nutmeg, this has transformed our lives. Naturally, when given the choice of the first book, the children chose The First Adventure and, very soon, I was as drawn into the story as my they were. The biggest reason why? This is not the twee tale of two mice having fun and safe adventures I thought it would be. While the premise is a bit cutesy, real danger appears very soon in the form of Aunt Ivy. As far as children storybook villains go, she is almost perfectly crafted; threatening enough to create age-appropriate tension, dastardly enough to carry out her threats and maintain a sense of dread, all while maintaining the right level of farce to ensure the tone of the book never becomes too much for the intended audience. My kids were hooked, and so was I, so we immediately purchased the rest of the series upon completion of the First Adventure.
• 
  Sally

  I actually got this audiobook through Audible rather than the mp3 version through the library Overdrive app. I thought it was a very cute story, fun to imagine mice behaving like little humans. I started a re-listen with my 5-year old grand daughter. Although we haven't finished it yet, I was a little surprised at how well she was listening and following the story, particularly because of the accent of the narrator and some of the terms that were more British than American, but perhaps more so because young kids like looking at pictures as the story goes along rather than listening to chapter books. I may look for more in this series through the library, as they seem a bit pricey on Audible for such short listens.
• 
  matteo

  This was a nice find in one of those little library boxes outside of someone's house in our neighborhood. It's not short for a kid's book, but it reads quickly, and the length probably has to do partly with the small pages... fitting for small characters. The main characters are fun if a bit ridiculous at times. The family whose house they live in is less fleshed out, other than the evil aunt. The second half of the book gets a bit graphic, including references that surprised me (guns, grenades, etc., though context is important).
• 
  Katie

  The author is a truly gifted writer, and the book was a treat to read aloud. The beginning and ending were riveting, but the book took us a long time to read. The kids paid attention while we were reading but rarely wanted to pick it up again the next day. However, when we finished reading the book, I was surprised when they begged to begin the next one. I think we just didn’t care for the character of Aunt Ivy. It was a good and beautiful book though, and I’m looking forward to TumTum and Nutmeg’s next adventure!