The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
On re-read, I enjoyed The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents much more than when I initially read it. I'm not sure why exactly this is. Whether I'm better acquainted with children's literature in general now or with Pratchett's children's literature in particular and have a better understanding of what it tries to and can accomplish. Or whether it's because I read it along with Mark Oshiro, who loved it and pointed out all the wonderful nuance that I wasn't as attuned to my first time through.
Regardless, I really enjoyed this book this time around. So much so that I'm seriously considering using it to introduce Gavin to the Discworld in a few years. (Let's be real, it was either going to be this or Tiffany Aching, and this one is geared towards slightly younger children than that sub-series). But it pulls of the neat trick of dealing with really big questions and refusing to provide easy answers. And in a kid's book, too.
The rats in this book are con artists, though that's mostly because they're being conned by the cat, Maurice, who's the real con artist of the bunch. The rats are starting to develop morals and would really rather just find a place where they can live quietly. They agree to one final job before parting ways with Maurice. But they've barely started before they discover something so much worse than themselves.
This is a book about the power of stories, the ways we use them to shape our world and how they can blind us to realities or provide an inspiration to behaving better. It's about how messy the real world can be and how stories both help and hinder us in dealing with it. It's a pretty deep book for a kid, and it pulls everything together effortlessly. Really I don't know what I was thinking when I first read and disliked this book.
Regardless, I really enjoyed this book this time around. So much so that I'm seriously considering using it to introduce Gavin to the Discworld in a few years. (Let's be real, it was either going to be this or Tiffany Aching, and this one is geared towards slightly younger children than that sub-series). But it pulls of the neat trick of dealing with really big questions and refusing to provide easy answers. And in a kid's book, too.
The rats in this book are con artists, though that's mostly because they're being conned by the cat, Maurice, who's the real con artist of the bunch. The rats are starting to develop morals and would really rather just find a place where they can live quietly. They agree to one final job before parting ways with Maurice. But they've barely started before they discover something so much worse than themselves.
This is a book about the power of stories, the ways we use them to shape our world and how they can blind us to realities or provide an inspiration to behaving better. It's about how messy the real world can be and how stories both help and hinder us in dealing with it. It's a pretty deep book for a kid, and it pulls everything together effortlessly. Really I don't know what I was thinking when I first read and disliked this book.
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