I recently found all my old Brambly Hedge books and decided to re-read them. I am happy to report that the stores are just as good and the illustrations are just as gorgeous as I remembered them being. I think these are stories young and old alike can enjoy and the beautiful pictures will definitely be of interest to all ages. ( )

I love charming stories that are simple to read but delightful to feast your eyes upon. Here, a wedding becomes a time to celebrate, even in the heat of summer. ( )

The mice in Brambly Hedge are a hardworking lot, but even they need a respite from the heat. Courtship develops between Poppy Eyebright and Dusty Dogwood, and now the mice have a wedding to plan and attend. ( )

The second of Jill Barklem's four seasonal titles set in Brambly Hedge, a tight-knit community of field mice living in idyllic rural retreat, Summer Story follows the tale of Poppy Eyebright and Dusty Dogwood - proprietors of the hedge's Dairy Stump and Flour Mill, respectively - through their courtship and midsummer marriage. The mice of Brambly Hedge are always up for a community celebration, and the murine nuptials of Poppy and Dusty - held aboard a birch-bark raft, afloat on the local stream - is the perfect excuse!

I adore the Brambly Hedge books, which combine winsome stories set in a small, enclosed world that is perfectly realized, with delightful illustrations - both interior and exterior - that will provide young readers with hours of viewing pleasure. The intricate interiors of the houses and community buildings of the hedge - they are presented in a sort of cross-section, with each room visible - are endlessly fascinating, while the residents themselves are cute (without being "cutesy"). Barklem did quite a bit of research, before writing and illustrating this series, and it really shows! The focus on food, in many of the stories, puts me in mind of some of Brian Jacques's murine fantasies (which have a similar preoccupation), making me think that these are the perfect selection for readers who are still too young for books like Redwall. ( )

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