The Highway Rat - Softcover

Julia Donaldson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1407124382 ISBN 13: 9781407124384

Publisher: Alison Green Books, 2012

Synopsis

Quick! Hide all your goodies! The Highway Rat's coming, and he's going to steal your snacks...

He takes clover from a rabbit, nuts from a squirrel -- he even steals his own horse's hay! Can no one stop him?

The creators of Stick Man and A Gold Star for Zog stand and deliver this fabulous new story of a wickedly loveable villain who gets his just deserts.

About this title

About the Author:

Julia Donaldson served as the UK Children's Laureate from 2011 to 2013 and has written many bestselling and beloved picture books and novels for young readers. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with her husband, Malcolm.

Axel Scheffler's award-winning books include Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale, and The Gruffalo. His illustrations have been published in more than thirty countries. He lives in London, England.

From School Library Journal:

PreS-Gr 2-Inspired by Alfred Noyes's "The Highwayman," Donaldson tells the tale of a swashbuckling rat with mask and cape who stops hapless travelers and takes their food at sword point. While he prefers chocolates, puddings, and cakes, he steals clover from a rabbit, nuts from a squirrel, and even hay from his own horse. "The creatures who traveled the highway/grew thinner and thinner and thinner,/While the Highway Rat grew horribly fat/from eating up everyone's dinner." A brave duck in a red kerchief lures the thief to a distant cave, supposedly full of biscuits and buns. While he follows the echoes of his own voice deeper and deeper into the dark, the duck jumps on Rat's horse and takes the stolen food back to her hungry friends. Eventually he emerges on the other side of the hill, becomes a reformed rodent, and finds work sweeping the floor at a cake shop. Scheffler's rich, dark palette creates a brooding atmosphere just right for the Highway Rat's dastardly deeds, and his cartoon-style characters are a wonderful tongue-in-cheek contrast. Humorous details abound, including Gruffalo cookies in the cake shop from this British duo's The Gruffalo (Puffin, 2006). This well-paced, rollicking tale is a guaranteed storytime treat.-Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TNα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alison Green Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1407124382
• ISBN 13: 9781407124384
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 36