The rat

This entry in the Disgusting Critters series (following The Slug, The Worm, and The Fly, all 2014) introduces readers to the black rat (Rattus rattus) through simple text and zany cartoon illustrations. Here the factual text plays straight man to the goings-on and speech bubbles of the imaginative illustrations. For example, The rat's tail is long, hairless, and very agile . . . it's almost like having a fifth paw, is accompanied by a cartoon image of Debbie the rat (tail inserted in nostril), who states, It's also very useful when I want to pick my nose. Other spreads detail this mammal's teeth, food preferences, athletic prowess, intelligence, and usefulness to humans. Gravel (Adopt a Glurb!, 2010), whose art won Canada's 2012 Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration, has created a title with great kid-appeal. Share with browsers or hand to beginning readers looking for something a little different for that animal report.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2010 Booklist

Gr 2-4-These easy-to-read titles aim to amuse and inform in tandem. A cartoon rat or slug provides silly commentary to accompany an array of factoids about its respective subjects' physical characteristics and life style. (While the narrator explains that rats are enamored of human foodstuffs and garbage, this protagonist requests "more delicious electrical wire in tomato sauce.") Rat reproduction is mentioned nowhere, and as for slugs, well, the information is ambiguous. Looking "to find a partner and have babies," this slug hero/heroine (being both) follows another slug's mucus trail and then "lays its eggs." The book fails to discuss contact between the slugs, which will surely result in many questions from young readers. Still, gently amusing and somewhat informative, these cartoon books will find a home in many a classroom library and will meet the basic needs for those children who dread nonfiction book reports.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.