A really fun read!

Ralph is a mouse who lives in a hotel. In fact he lives in a specific hotel room. He loves when families with young kids stay - they leave lots of crumbs. And older kids may not leave as many crumbs, but they leave higher quality options - half-eaten candy bars at the top of the list.

The current guest in his room is too old for good crumbs, not old enough to leave half-eaten candy. But he has something else - a little toy motorcycle, just big enough for Ralph to ride.

Ralph strikes up a friendship with the boy. They can understand each other because they both love motorcycles - which was kind've cute.

They have some adventures with the motorcycle. But when the boy gets sick and needs an aspirin (and the boys parents can't find one because it's 1AM) Ralph drives off in the boy's toy ambulance on a wild adventure through the hotel to find an aspirin.

A cute, fun book. ( )

I've never read past book one, but now I'm tempted to, the book was always a charming one to say the least. I had no idea this was a series, but I guess it is. ( )

When a little boy with a toy motorcycle comes to stay in the hotel where Ralph lives with his extended family, Ralph and the boy become friends. Ralph gets himself into - and sometimes out of 0 trouble, and performs a heroic rescue mission to find the boy an aspirin when he gets sick. ( )

From the vantage point of an adult, this reads as thinner in substance than it did as a child. However, it's still enjoyable for an age appropriate audience, as my children can attest. ( )

Please allow me first to point out what a joy it was to listen to the woman's voice who did the audio version I listened to. I loved the sound effects she made especially, and happily remembered all the times I read this as a kid. For a few months as a kid, I rode a quad, or what some people call an ATV. So that's a big part of why I liked this then, and I was delighted that an author made such a fun adventure out of it. Now, last night, someone made a cute reference to the book and I wanted to read it again. I found an audiobook version. As often happens, my view changed as an adult. Still a great adventure, just...different for me now. I remembered tons of plot points and descriptions, which I liked. I still found myself wondering midway through, how much book there was left. The first chapter is entirely exposition. The second chapter is entire action. In the third chapter, the writing evens out, as it were, and was a more natural balance. Keith is unusually self-aware and forgiving for a kid. Ralph is immature and his knowledge of human food and things is--uneven is the word that comes to mind. Convenient, I guess. This book probably remains a delight for kids, which is great. ( )