Ratscalibur written by Josh Lieb and illustrated by Tom Lintern, 171 pp. RL 4

-

Josh Lieb has a very impressive page on IMDB with some solid comedy credit, including several Emmys. His first book for kids, I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I want to Be Your Class President, had hilarious blurbs from Judd Apatow and Jon Stewart, who likened to the book to the baby of War and Peace and The Breakfast Club that had been left to be raised by wolves. Writing funny kid's books is not easy, which if probably why there are so few of them, even in this post-Diary of a Wimpy Kid world. However, with his new book, Ratscalibur, Lieb dives into a different genre - fantasy - and the result is fantastic! If I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I want to Be Your Class President is a mash-up of War and Peace and The Breakfast Club then Ratscalibur is a brilliant mash-up of the King Arthur legend of Excalibur and the Newbery Award winning classic, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Ratscalibur is the kind of book when, after turning the last page, you smack your forehead and wonder why no one has thought of this before. Ratscalibur is also the kind of book that elicits glowing quotes from kidlit talent like the hilarious Daniel Pinkwater and multiple Newbery Award winner and author of a few books featuring rodents,  Richard Peck. However, the quote from Ratscalibur I love the most - and wish I had said - comes from storyteller Ira Glass who says, "The only way I could have liked this more is is I were eleven." And this is how I felt after reading Ratscalibur, and a handful of other favorite kid's books of mine.
.
Two other things I love about Ratscalibur: it is under 200 pages with short, fast paced chapters, making this IDEAL for reluctant readers AND superb illustrations by Tom Lintern, another draw for reluctant readers. Ratscalibur begins with Joey reluctantly moving to the city with his mom, who has been offered a great new job. The city is big, loud, dirty hot and smelly. Lieb does a superb job setting the scene and describing the smells, which is essential because the underground rodent world he creates is rich with foul smells, half-eaten foods and cast off detritus. This world also has its own kind of magic, specific to each creature. Joey discovers this when the half-dead rat his hapless Uncle Joey brings him as a housewarming gift bites him, transforming him into a rat with one crucial mission. The rat, a Ragician ("Man does magic. Rats do Ragic. It's just common sense,") known as Gondorff the Grey, begs Joey to tell King Uther that he has failed...

Joey follows his nose, literally, through a wonderland of smells to a garbage mountain that now, surprisingly, is a mixture of delicious smells. Joey also discovers amazing new abilities he possesses as a rat. A run in with a cat leads him to King Uther's kingdom, Ravalon, where he discovers rats jousting on top of cats, food tributes, attacking crows and well armed rats. Starving and scared, Joey looks for anything he can use to protect himself, which is when he sees it - a "broken spork sticking out of the stale biscuit." Yes. It is the Spork in the Scone! I was on an airplane when I read this and tried my best not to concern my neighbors with my cackling, but this has to be the funniest thing I have read in a long time. This is some seriously solid humor and, while Ratscalibur has other moments of humor, Lieb is all about the legend and the rodents in this book and the action is non-stop. Along with Sir Parsifur, the handsome rat knight, Yislene, the Princess of the Low Realm, heir to the throne of Uther and apprentice to Gondorff the Grey, her loyal guinea pig bodyguard Brutilda and Sir Aramis, the king's vizier, the group heads out to find Squirrelin the Squagician with the hopes that he can turn Joey back into a human and help save Ravalon.

Along the way the group faces treachery, attacks, deception and a surprise ally as Joey questions his bravery in the face of the prophecy of Ratscalibur. Although set in the squirming heart of the Low Realm of rats, Lieb brings his story, both above and below ground, back to family ties, courage and love in a very satisfying and unsentimental way that I especially appreciated. Ratscalibur is the first in the Chronicles of the Low Realm and I can't wait to find out how Joey - or another human - makes his way back to Ravalon.


Source: Review Copy

Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more