When a letter arrives at Runt Fram from Tooth's cousin, Clovis, the family decides to break Clovis out of her tiny cell at a research facility. They seem to succeed until a mysterious package arrives at Runt Farm and put the whole family in hot water. Will the scientists from the research facility find Tooth and his family or will they remain free?

A cute, animal adventure story that young readers will enjoy. The character are memorable, the plot keeps moving, and the illustrations well done and do a good job of complementing the story. Readers who like adventure stories, animal books, and fantasy fiction will enjoy reading this book. ( )

I read this book with my daughter who is five years old. I did note that this book is for an older audience, but I wanted my daughter’s opinion on the book. She loved the drawings throughout the book. We had a hard time reading only one chapter a night, because we found it hard to pick up where we left off in the story. We haven’t read the two previous books in the series so it was hard to explain NAARF, and the narrative from previous books.

Overall, I loved the fact that the focus was on diverse families and it was a great idea for children’s literature for the right age group.

However, I didn’t like the fact that this storyline reminded me of The Secret of Nimph. The stories relate too much, even though one is a movie and the other is a series of books. ( )

When you go to your mailbox, you expect to find one of three things: bills, things you bought or requested, or garbage. Imagine my surprise when I opened my mailbox and found a package with a book in it that I not only didn't buy, but also didn't request. Who sent it and for what purpose? Such is the story of how I came to read the third book in Amanda Lorenzo's children's series, Runt Farm.

Clovis Escapes (the title of the third book) begins with a precarious situation: Clovis has been imprisoned by the NAARF, an evil organization manned by humans and weasels which takes pleasure in imprisoning the cute and fluffy critters that make up the Runt Farm family. When a letter is smuggled out of NAARF, the Runt Farm family swings into action, sending their trusty bunny companion, Beatrice, to mount a rescue.

Clovis Escapes is less a novel than a collection of short moral tales for children. Upon further investigation, it seems that the mission of the author is to create a series of fun and fantastical books for kids that portray more of the mixed and unique families that make up the world we live in today (at least from a Western viewpoint, but that's my commentary, no hers). With that goal in mind, I think she succeeded. The Runt Farm family is a mixed bag of characters, all with little individual personalities (albeit, undeveloped ones, since this is both a series and a book for kids), and all of different animal species (which some might consider to be a little arbitrary). One of its flaws, however, is that each "chapter" (or story) has some sort of moral to portray and does so a little.

On the one hand, Clovis Escapes' focus on mixed families is a noble mission; on the other, it leaves out a cohesive narrative for a hodgepodge of stories, some of which are related to the initial premise, and some which are not. The focus on morality at the expense of character development, even in a children's book, makes for a novel that is a little too aware of the fact that it is discussing morality. For example, the middle story, which tells about the wrongs of stealing identities (to purchase cheese), is quite point blank about its message, but, in the process, spends far too little time discussing the consequences or the solution in a way that sets right the wrong being committed. I get that it's for kids, but it's not for the age group that reads Dr. Seuss; this novel is for slightly older children (6-10), an audience that isn't all that interested in being preached to.

Having said the above, I do think there are some noticeable positives. First, the characters are, despite the flaw in the storytelling, quite cute and enjoyable. Beatrice, the rabbit, and even Clovis, the initial plot point of the novel, are each easy to engage with and fun to read. Second, the illustrations are gorgeous. Mark Evan Walker provides a series of pencil-style drawings throughout the book; their inclusion makes the interior and the cover come to life in the way picture books do. I sometimes wish more books for younger kids had these kinds of images, and hopefully this is the sort of thing that exists throughout the series.

Seeing how I haven't read the earlier books in the series, I can't say whether there is an overarching narrative or improvement over previous books. I do think that, despite Clovis Escapes' flaws, it would be a fun and silly book to read to your kids, but that all depends on whether you're interested in morality tales or stories with other goals. One thing is for sure: a focus on diverse families in children's literature is a good idea--hopefully we'll see more of it in the future. ( )

When a letter smuggled out of NAARF arrives at Runt Form, the family must gear up to help Tooth's cousin, Clovis, break out of her tiny cell. This gives the small and very fast bunny, Beatrice, a chance to do a little burgling. Then a mysterious package arrives at the barn door and Cletus finds himself in a pickle with Tooth. As the Runt Farmers recover from one catastrophe only to face an even bigger one, every critter in the crowd must call upon bravery, ingenuity, and luck!

I received this book from Author Marketing Experts through LibraryThing.com for review. I was really excited to get this book because I don't think that the general public recognizes enough the importance of children's literature. Every day a boy or girl's mind could be inspired to be even greater, if someone would just recommend to them a good book. I am firm believer that whatever you're reading, it's doing you good.

But to get back to the book up for review, Clovis Escapes is the third book in Amanda Lorenzo's Runt Farm series for 4-8 year olds. Focusing on a rag tag family of all types of animals, the reader gets to experience the excitement and action of learning to survive outside the clutches of a scientific research institute. Reminiscent of The Rats of NIMH, Lorenzo does a good job of creating cute, fun, young animals who have to find their courage to get through a variety of tough circumstances. The illustrations by Mark Evan Walker are just darling - who's going to forget Beatrice (the bunny rabbit) screwing up her face and throwing a few practice kung fu moves to show how able she is?

The only thing that threw me off were I feel some too adult themes for the age group. Lorenzo seems to be alluding to Clovis having depression after her rescue, and in the same story Beatrice refers to her as having 'a rexia': anorexia. I understand the concept of using books to introduce adult ideas in a kid-friendly setting, but I kind of feel that it was unnecessary to the story and in fact removed me from what I was reading. I'd just recommend that parents keep that in mind because whether your child is reading it by themselves or you're reading it with them, they're going to have questions.

Overall Feeling -Thumbs up. A cute kids story, in spite of some more adult ideas; I can see kids loving these courageous and personable little animals.

Series - 1) Under New Management 2) Beatrice and Blossom 3) Clovis Escapes

Reviewed by Dana at ReadingAmidsttheChaos (at) blogspot (dot) come