Sure, the author is challenging a reader’s level of suspending disbelief to a greater degree than normal right off the bat. That type of reader will also enjoy Stuart Little for its fantastical elements, but also enjoys the greater pleasure of seeing that not only the book not separated from the real world around them, it is very much inspired and acts as a commentary on that world.

Not to mention all those families who decided not to have their kid “sent away” because he wasn’t normal in some way. Others might recall hearing stories about that Austrian kid in the funny velvet pants who they said an entire symphony before he was ten years old. Or maybe that ballplayer who hit home runs even though he was a skinny as a green bean. The other type of reader who can be equally entertained on that level of fantasy when reading the novel will look at the very same opening paragraphs and be reminded of that family member they know who always described as having the face of a disappointed cow. It’s just not real and with accepting that (or, put another way, rejecting that Stuart does have a connection to the our world) only makes the book all the more enjoyable. For this type of reader, the world Stuart inhabits might as well be Oz or Metropolis. Frederick Little gives birth to a son who is described as looking like a mouse, said to be able to shinny up a cord barely a week after birth, weighing no more than a stamp and, though he certainly was not normal in any sense, raised as if he were rather than being “sent away” immediately situates the novel in a world of fantasy quite distinct from the world we know for some readers. Stuart Little holds great appeal to two very different types of readers. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

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