Adventuremice: Mousehole to the Centre of the Earth

LoveReading4Kids Says

December 2025 Book of the Month

This might be my favourite Adventuremice adventure yet! This is such a triumph of a series that so perfectly bridges the gap between picturebooks and chapter books and it is such a quality production for this market. The full colour and intensely characterful illustrations are simply of outstanding quality and, as ever, the fact that these stories are a completely joint production ensures that the words and pictures work together in a quite remarkable fashion. As they tell us, Philip writes most of the words, but Sarah is a constant source of ideas, and he lends a hand with the huge task of producing all these fabulous illustrations. I really cannot understand why these have not been snapped up to create a TV series!

This is a story which takes obvious inspiration from the Jules Verne classic, but with an unmistakeable Adventuremice flavour. We are used to Uncle Bernie’s inventions, but the Mechanical Mole which emerges in Bosun’s vegetable patch is a puzzling arrival. Skipper doesn’t think they will ever use it, but young Pedro thinks Adventuremice really should go exploring underground and Skipper realises they might be in with a chance of winning the Squeakington Prize for the Top Discovery Made by a Mouse, so off they go!

They soon discover the flaw in the design of the Mechanical Mole, that it cannot reverse, so getting home could be tricky. But when they discover a fabulous underground world, inhabited by some friendly cave mice, it seems worth it. Their hosts have a problem - they are terrorised by a Hamstersaurus Rex and have been forced to live in the trees, and this becomes their problem too, when the Mechanical Mole is destroyed.

With their usual creativity the Adventuremice come up with lots of plans to capture the creature, until Pedro’s empathy for the bored and lonely Hamstersaurus Rex, persuades them to try another ingenious and hilarious solution (which will be recognised by anyone with a pet hamster) They also have to come up with a solution to how to get home and what they do could well inspire some home or school experiments with hot air!

As usual there is a lovely draw along activity at the end of the book and a great map which could inspire some storytelling. These are not just great fun adventures, there is always something to think about and discuss and the team’s decision that it is better for the cave mice if they do not reveal their discovery and win the prize, is a wonderful demonstration of the importance of seeing another’s point of view and taking responsibility for your actions.

Get a young reader hooked on reading with this quality series and there will be no turning back. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Joy Court
Joy Court is co – founder of All Around Reading, having previously managed the Schools Library Service in Coventry, where she established the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards and…
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About Adventuremice: Mousehole to the Centre of the Earth

When Uncle Bernie turns up with his incredible Mechanical Mole machine, the Adventuremice go on a mission!

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