Rat On A Rat

Colin is tired of school bullies and other students' refusal to speak up or "rat" on the real troublemakers. When Colin does speak out against a couple of school thugs, they post an embarrassing photo of him on a social networking website. Colin makes some new enemies in the process but also a few new allies, including the VP, Mr. Miller. One of Colin's new unwanted allies, though, is Jerome, who is selling weapons to kids at school for "self defense." Colin threatens to turn Jerome in but backs off, tired of his growing reputation as the school rat. When Jerome is shot and killed, Colin regrets not speaking up earlier. Jerome's killer is now known but has not been located by the police. When the police show up, Colin tells them what he knows, and while he realizes that he has some enemies, he also has some real admirers as well.

Emmy was a good girl. At least she tried very hard to be good. She did her homework without being told. She ate all her vegetables, even the slimy ones. And she never talked back to her nanny, Miss Barmy, although it was almost impossible to keep quiet, some days. She really was a little too good. Which is why she liked to sit by the Rat. The Rat was not good at all . . . Hilarious, inventive, and irresistably rodent-friendly, Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat is a fantastic first novel from acclaimed picture book author Lynne Jonell.

The author reflects on memories of country life in northern Baltimore County during her early years. Her childhood is full of delightful memories. However, it was lonely living in the country and finding friends to share her childhood was challenging until a new family moved into an adjacent farm - opening a lifelong friendship. All was well until 2011. Without any reason or explanation, the author experienced a door angrily slammed in her face, thus ending a 50-year friendship. Incensed at being robbed of her dignity, she decided she was not keeping his secrets anymore and tipped the Justice Department. One thing leads to another and the author soon discovers correlations she never expected to the only unsolved hijacking in U.S. history.

Originally published in 1998, Lynn Crosbie brought her unique voice to the forefront of Canadian poetry with this important collection of verse. Hers is a world of Shakespeare, skinheads, and centurions; and hers is a life stripped to the basics and then reconstructed with relish, every brick scrutinized meticulously. In Queen Rat her language is urban, but her soul is universal as she explores that which makes up everything. Featuring a new introduction by poet and musician Michael Turner.

From the New Yorker “20 Under 40” author of Atmospheric Disturbances comes a brain-twisting adventure story of a girl named Fred on a quest through a world of fantastical creatures, strange logic, and a powerful prejudice against growing up. Fred and her math-teacher mom are always on the move, and Fred is getting sick of it. She’s about to have yet another birthday in a new place without friends. On the eve of turning thirteen, Fred sees something strange in the living room: her mother, dressed for a party, standing in front of an enormous paper lantern—which she steps into and disappears. Fred follows her and finds herself in the Land of Impossibility—a loopily illogical place where time is outlawed, words carry dire consequences, and her unlikely allies are a depressed white elephant and a pugnacious mongoose mother of seventeen. With her new friends, Fred sets off in search of her mom, braving dungeons, Insult Fish, Fearsome Ferlings, and a mad Rat Queen. To succeed, the trio must find the solution to an ageless riddle. Gorgeously illustrated and reminiscent of The Phantom Tollbooth and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Rivka Galchen’s Rat Rule 79 is an instant classic for curious readers of all ages.

A raucous, rhyming tale that will have children (and adults) in fits of laughter! Cat is sitting on his mat when Rat arrives wearing a very nice hat. Cat wants Rat’s hat and will stop at nothing to get it. But when Bat appears wearing a fancy cravat, well, what could be better than that? Chaos ensues as both Cat and Rat decide they must have Bat’s fancy cravat for themselves! This hilarious picture book is bursting with comic capers, slapstick antics, tongue-twisting text, and vibrant neon artwork.

Jonathan Burt in Rat traces the fortunes of the rat in history, myth, nature, and culture.

To be published simultaneously in nine countries, Rat is an allegorical novel--about the laws that govern society, about our mythologies, truths and lies, behaviors and institutions, love and hope--as reflected in the gutters, drains and sewers where our close relative, the rat, lives.