Review Detail

Reader reviewed by mlecompt

One day Joan and Bob answer a knock at their door to find a boy in a uniform who claims he was a rat. They take him in and name him Roger, but Roger has trouble fitting in anywhere because he doesn't understand many words and social conventions. Eventually, he ends up living in the sewers and is branded a monster by the press.

This is a very clever story that branches out from the Cinderella fairy tale and wonders what would happen if one of her rat coachmen remained human. Some of Roger's adventures are funny, as are the newspaper pages that are sprinkled throughout the book. The main idea of the book, however, is that people are afraid of what they don't understand and the reader watches as this boy is made into a drooling, scabby, horrendous monster by the media and government. Very interesting ideas are behind this simple tale of a boy who was a rat.