With his rowdy cousins constantly wearing out his motorcycle and the Mountain View Inn manager threatening to take care of the mouse infestation once and for all, Ralph decides it's time to get away for a while. He convinces his human friend Ryan to take him along to school, where Ralph instantly becomes the center of attention.

But when Ryan's class decides to see how smart Ralph is by making him run a maze, the usually confident mouse starts to fret. What if he's not as clever as he thought?

independent reading level: grade 3-4
awards:
Iowa Children's Choice Award
West Virginia Children’s Book Award
Golden Kite Award
School Library Journal Best Book
Garden State Children's Book Award (New Jersey)

I thought this book would be redundant, considering that Ralph runs away in this book like he did in the previous. And it did start out that way, with Ralph annoyed at his young relatives wanting to borrow his motorcycle and then leaving the hotel. But his experience at school was different enough from his experience at camp that it felt completely fresh. I really liked Miss K and the way she taught and that even Ralph learned some important things from her. The ending to the book, which is the ending to the series, went better than I expected it to. I again find myself wishing that I'd read these books to my kids when they were young, as I think it would have been a fun adventure series to read together. ( )

With his rowdy cousins constantly wearing out his motorcycle and the Mountain View Inn manager threatening to take care of the mouse infestation once and for all, Ralph decides it's time to get away for a while. He convinces his human friend Ryan to take him along to school, where Ralph instantly becomes the center of attention.

But when Ryan's class decides to see how smart Ralph is by making him run a maze, the usually confident mouse starts to fret. What if he's not as clever as he thought?

Ralph is bored staying home, so he goes to school with his owner.