Rats on the Range and Other Stories - Hardcover

Marshall, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803713843 ISBN 13: 9780803713840

Publisher: Dial, 1993

Synopsis

The reader meets a rat family that vacations at a dude ranch, a pig who takes lessons in table manners, a mouse who keeps house for a tomcat, and a buzzard who leaves his money to the Society for Stray Cats--or does he?

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

A frequently hilarious cast of characters scampers through the eight stories in this companion volume to the late Marshall's Rats on the Roof . Anxious to impress his date, Pig brushes up on his table manners and even learns a smattering of French, only to discover that there is nothing subtle to her enjoyment of food; in a subsequent tale, Pig, with a manic energy reminiscent of Toad in The Wind in the Willows, terrorizes the town with his reckless but infectiously joyful driving. Old Buzzard Watkins feigns death in order to find out who his real friends are, triggering a series of sly double- and triple-crosses. And, in the first and strongest story--Marshall's piercing wit and incomparable eye for silly incidentals have never been sharper--Miss Mouse undertakes to clean house and reform the diet of Thomas J. Cat, with results that surprise them both. This collection is slightly uneven, especially in comparison with its uniformly exquisite predecessor: some entries seem rough and unfinished, their humor not fully developed, and the lack of interior illustrations cannot help but disappoint. Still, there is plenty of trademark Marshall zaniness and incongruity to surprise and delight, and this well-loved author's many fans will welcome this posthumous gift. Ages 6-10 .
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Eight more merry, interrelated tales of mishap and just deserts for readers of Rats On the Roof: unpleasant surprises await both housekeeper ``Miss Mouse,'' who discovers that her new employer is a cat, and (in the title story) the vacationing Waldo Rat family when they find out that their dude ranch is run by rat terriers; Pig speeds around town in a yellow sports car until he learns the hard way that the bridge is out over Gopher's Gulch; and he just can't seem to hold onto a job--not even as local TV weatherpig. With industry plus a knack for telling good stories, Miss Mouse persuades the cat to change his appetites, while the other challenges here are likewise met in funny, inventive ways. As always, tolerance and care for others were Marshall's themes, belly-laughs his method. (Fiction. 7-10) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dial
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0803713843
• ISBN 13: 9780803713840
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80