Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Rat Attack
Fiction
For ages 5 to 7
Bravemouse Books, 2014 ISBN: 978-1940947211
Ann, Fran, and Stan, the three little mice children, have brought home a wagon of berries and now Gram is making berry jam for them. While the berries are cooking on the stove Gran hears someone tapping on the door, and the next thing she knows a very large rat is standing in her kitchen. The rat tells her that he is a bandit and he demands that she hand over her jam, but Gram is too wise to be fooled by the bandit disguise. She knows full well that the rat is Nat and she tells him to “Scat.”
Later Gram is putting the jam in glass jars when another someone taps on her door. A monster walks into the kitchen and tells Gram to give it her jam so that it can “fill my tum.” Though the monster is large and rather intimidating, wise Gram knows that it is actually Pat the rat in disguise, and she tells Pat to “Scat.” One would think that Pat and Nat (and their friend Matt) would give up trying to steal Gram’s jam, but they are determined rats. They still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
For this charming early reader title Molly Coxe has created a story that focuses on words with the short “a” sound. Throughout the engaging tale words are repeated to help children recognize how they sound and what they look like. The artwork in the story was created by photographing Molly Coxe’s delightful handmade felted mice and rats, for which she made in a wonderful mouse-sized world full of cunning backdrops and props. Children will wish that they could jump into Gram’s world to explore her little house with Ann, Fran and Stan.
