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  • Published: 2 October 2014
  • ISBN: 9780147512819
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 112
  • RRP: $19.99

Oh Rats!

The Story of Rats and People



The fact-filled, anecdote-packed history of rats and people from award-winning historian and writer for children Albert Marrin. Now repackaged in a B-Trim format!

Prepare to be disgusted, amazed, shocked (and informed) by the astonishing and mysterious creature that has annoyed humanity for centuries:

Rats!

Able to claw straight up a brick wall, squeeze through a pipe the width of a quarter, and gnaw through iron and concrete, rats are also revealed in this fascinating book to be incredibly intelligent and capable of compassion. Weaving together science, history, culture, and folklore, award-winning writer Albert Marrin offers a look at rats that goes from the curious to repulsive, horrifying to comic, fearsome to inspiring. Arresting black-and-white scratchboard illustrations with bold red accents add visual punch to this study of a creature that has annoyed, disgusted, nourished, and intrigued its human neighbors for centuries.
* "[A] lively and informative overview of the history and behavior of the widely encountered rodent.... It's a different sort of discussion... for this well-known historian and biographer and one that he has clearly enjoyed, as will a wide variety of nonfiction readers and animal fans. There's a bibliography of adult sources and children's nonfiction as well as a listing of literary works featuring rats."
—School Library Journal, starred review
 
“Pleasantly icky.”
—Booklist
 
A Junior Library Guild Selection

Includes bibliography, further reading list, and a list of rats in literature

  • Published: 2 October 2014
  • ISBN: 9780147512819
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 112
  • RRP: $19.99

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Praise for Oh Rats!

Praise for Oh, Rats!:

* "[A] lively and informative overview of the history and behavior of the widely encountered rodent.... It's a different sort of discussion... for this well-known historian and biographer and one that he has clearly enjoyed, as will a wide variety of nonfiction readers and animal fans. There's a bibliography of adult sources and children's nonfiction as well as a listing of literary works featuring rats."
--School Library Journal, starred review

"Children fond of nonfiction that is laced with discomfiting--or downright revolting--information will happily fall upon this anecdotal look at the shared history of the animal kingdom's greatest survivors... Pleasantly icky."
--Booklist

"The book may be nonfiction, but it is also fine storytelling. C. B. Mordan's evocative black-and-white line drawings... show off the rat to its best advantage--in moments both wicked and benign. This is a fine marriage of narration and illustration; a very fine book, indeed."
--Children's Literature

"The lore and science of rats receive an enthusiastic treatment... Well-designed sidebars present additional related factoids for the eager reader. End matter provides both the author's bibliography and a number of titles for further reading, both nonfiction and fiction. Even the most rat-o-phobic reader will emerge with a heightened appreciation for the hardy rodent."
--Kirkus Reviews

A Junior Library Guild Selection