A Rat's Tale
by Tor Seidler
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tor SeidlerNarrator: Jason Katz
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Unabridged
Published: 1999-04-30
ISBN: 0064407799
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Book Reviews of A Rat's Tale
Book Review: A Splendid Rat, Says Bibliocat
Summary: 5 Stars
? Montague Mad-Rat is a young rodent with a strange family: his mother dyes bird feathers with berry juices and creates fanciful hats; his father is working on his hundred-and-seventh mud castle; and his aunt travels the world on cruise ships. His namesake uncle crafts tiny gold rings that he sells to humans. Montague has his own craft: painting exquisite miniatures on tiny shells his aunt brings him. His real adventures begin when he meets and falls in love with the rich and beautiful Isabel Moberly-Rat, whose friends and family are wharf rats who look down upon rats like Montague who make things with their paws. Montague gets involved with a campaign to save the wharf rats from extermination by a new property owner, and comes to appreciate his family and himself for who they are.
This book is absolutely charming. The setting-Central Park, Columbus Circle, and the New York docks-is just right. Seidler has managed to make his rat story romantic, funny, suspenseful, and insightful in its observations of class snobbery.
One element that serves to make this book so successful is Seidler's playful use of language to maintain the fantasy element and to help draw character. The world of the novel is always seen from the rats' point of view. For instance, when the lovely Isabel Moberly-Rat is caught in a rainstorm, she mutters "Oh, people" under her breath, rather than "Oh, rats." The rats don't go for a walk; they go for a "creep." They attend a gathering called the "Great Rat Chat," which is the "backbone of a democratsy," attended by cabinet ministers who are great helpers of "ratkind." When the haughty young Randal Reese-Rat gets a spot of poison on his tail, his parents call in a "general ratitioner." These are just a few of the numerous examples throughout the text. They serve to maintain the illusion that the rat world has its own society, yet one that is eerily reminiscent of our human world. Mrs. Moberly-Rat is a terrible snob, as are most of her fellow wharf rats living in fancy high-rise crates. She is struggling with her weight, and does "petal arrangements" to keep her mind off cheese. However, every time we see her she is eating or serving a different variety, from blue to Swiss to Gruyere. She looks down upon the Mad-Rats because they make things with their paws, marry their cousins, do business with people, and worst of all, live in "S-E-W-E-R-S." Her husband, Hugh Moberly-Rat, has a fancy office with a gilt-edged dictionary for a desk and silver foil gum wrapper wallpaper. Seidler does a clever thing with the speeches that Hugh makes: he repeats every thought in different words, making him even more long-winded than most human politicians. Thus, "How so, you ask," is followed immediately by, "Why, you want to know?" Sometimes he does it in single sentences: " For more deaths, I fear, lurk in the near future-await us in the coming days." It's really quite a comical effect, and is typical of the artificial language that many politicians use in public-and is not the way Hugh speaks in private, either.
All in all, A Rat's Tale is a lovely book that works on several levels, from the story of an unlikely hero to commentary on class prejudice. The black-and-white illustrations are a charming complement to the text. One can't help agreeing with Newsday's comment: "A Rat's Tale may well do for rats what Charlotte's Web has done for spiders."
Summary of A Rat's Tale
Montague Mad-Rat lives a solitary existence in the sewers of New York City. His only delights are scavenging in Central Park for feathers and berries for his mother, and painting the seashells his aunt brings him. One day, he rescues the beautiful Isabel Moberly-Rat and, upon escorting her home, is introduced to a world he never knew existed. For she lives at the wharves, in a spacious crate, among rats who look down on those--like him--who make things with their paws. Suddenly Montague is ashamed. So when he hears about the campaign to save the wharves from human destruction, he does all he can to help. But how much can one rat really do, especially when he's an outcast?Montague Mad-Rat lives a solitary existence in the sewers of New York City. His only delights are scavenging through Central Park for feathers and berries for his mother, and painting the seashells his aunt brings him. One day, he rescues the beautiful Isabel Moberly-Rat, and upon escorting her home is introduced to a world he never knew existed. For she lives at the wharves, in a spacious crate, among rats who look down on thoselike himwho make things with their paws. Suddenly Montague is ashamed. So when he hears about the campaign to save the wharf from human destruction, he does all he can to help. But how much can one rat really do, especially when hes an outcast?A Rats Tale may well do for rats what Charlottes Web has done for spiders. NewsdayBeautifully told, Seidlers fantasy never falters. A grand adventure. A superb book. Boxed Review/Publishers Weekly A feast for fantasy lovers. The kind of entrancing reality found in The Cricket in Times Square or even Stuart Little.Pointer Review/Kirkus Reviews Like Charlottes Web or The Wind in the Willows, Tor Seidlers delightful new book, A Rats Tale, is suffused with humor, pathos, and moral beauty.The Washington Post Book World
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