Tales from Dimwood Forest
#4853.97 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 7 books Status Complete 1995–2020 Reading commitment High Avi Last reviewed 2026-10-27
Overview
Avi's Tales from Dimwood Forest, illustrated by Brian Floca, follow the deer mouse Poppy, the golden mouse Ragweed, the cantankerous porcupine Ereth and their families and enemies in and around Dimwood Forest, from Poppy's stand against the tyrannical owl Mr. Ocax (Poppy, 1995, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for fiction) to the last book in story order, Poppy and Ereth (2009). Two prequels about Ragweed fill in the time before Poppy; the last, Ragweed and Poppy, appeared in 2020.
Cozy fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (7 works) counts toward ranking
Tales from Dimwood Forest Avi
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Poppy | 1995 | 1 | core | 3.99 (11,275 ratings) |
 | Poppy and Rye | 1998 | 2 | core | 3.94 (4,052 ratings) |
 | Ragweed; First edition, Avon Books (An Avon Camelot book), 1999. | 1999 | 3 | core | 3.87 (5,095 ratings) |
 | Ereth's Birthday | 2000 | 4 | core | 4.00 (2,026 ratings) |
 | Poppy's Return; First edition, HarperCollins, 2005. | 2005 | 5 | core | 4.02 (1,500 ratings) |
 | Poppy and Ereth; The final book in story order; it draws together characters and events from the earlier books. First edition hardcover, HarperCollins, 2009. | 2009 | 6 | core | 4.15 (1,048 ratings) |
 | Ragweed and Poppy; Published in 2020; second in the author's reading order. No titled rating was found. First edition hardcover, Harper, 2020. | 2020 | 7 | core | N/A |
Seven animal-fantasy novels.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Tales from Dimwood Forest? Tales from Dimwood Forest's Core Canon is 7 books.
- What is the reading order for Tales from Dimwood Forest? Publication order, starting with Poppy. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Tales from Dimwood Forest finished? Complete (1995–2020).
- How much reading does Tales from Dimwood Forest take? High reading commitment (estimated from 7 Core Canon books).
- How is Tales from Dimwood Forest ranked? #485 in this site's official ranking, based on 24,996 reader ratings across 6 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #485?
Ranked #485 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.97 across 6 core books.
- A smaller readership (24,996 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #484, The Mirage Makers (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.46.
One Core Canon book here doesn't have a recorded rating yet and isn't counted above: “Ragweed and Poppy” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.).
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 7 books · Complete · 25k ratings · Ranks #485 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running cozy fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (7 Core Canon books)
- Poppy (1995)
- Poppy and Rye (1998)
- Ragweed (1999)
- Ereth's Birthday (2000)
- Poppy's Return (2005)
- Poppy and Ereth (2009)
- Ragweed and Poppy (2020)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (Fiction), 1996: won: Poppy
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Suggestions computed from what Tales from Dimwood Forest and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The King of the Copper Mountains Mythic fantasy / Cozy fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.09
- The Mennyms Cozy fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.09
- Circus Mirandus Cozy fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.08
- The Borrowers Cozy fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.03
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.97 across 24,996 ratings on 6 Core Canon books. 1 additional Core Canon book hasn't been rated yet, so it isn't counted here. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: Tales from Dimwood Forest (Avi, 7 books) accepted 2026-10-27
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Avi: Poppy & Rye (The Poppy Books, reading order) Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Poppy (novel) (The Tales of Dimwood Forest) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-27
Rule: Core Canon = the seven Dimwood Forest novels (1995-2020): Poppy, Poppy and Rye, Ragweed, Ereth's Birthday, Poppy's Return, Poppy and Ereth and Ragweed and Poppy. The author's own reading order differs from publication order (Ragweed and Ragweed and Poppy come first).