Three Green Rats: An Eco Tale

Second place 2013 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards.
Finalist 2012 ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards.

An urban fantasy for ages 7-11 empowering kids to live a sustainable life in balance with nature. Early chapter book. 40+ illustrations. Glossary. Juvenile Fiction. Ecology. Environment.

Once inside the fictitious city of Tintown ("a dirty, noisy place"), we find ourselves in a sooty rat universe where the air feels "like a cloud of bad gravy." Mean Mrs. Misringon (the richest rat in town) rules Tintown with industry and cunning. Money is all that matters to Mean Mrs. Misrington. The three Green brothers (who live at the end of Broken Bottle Lane) are her nemeses. They turn their backs on the rat race and don't buy a thing. They reuse what they can and recycle what is left. Together they set out to live a simple life and end up changing the world.

What happens when these cultures collide is the stuff and substance of this cautionary tale, pointing to a road less traveled, and a hopeful outcome for Mother Earth.

This book is both a fun read-aloud story and a launch pad for discussion and learning, whether read at home or in the classroom. Suitable for grades 2 through 6.

Linda Mason Hunter, a pioneer in America's green movement, has written hundreds of articles for national magazines and published 13 books, four of them on sustainable living. Her first book, The Healthy Home (Rodale, 1989) was reviewed in The New York Times, and she has appeared on Good Morning, America, CNN, MSNBC, Pacifica Radio, the CBC, among others.

Suzanne Summersgill works under the name pinnstudio, illustrating for clients and her own line of prints using tossed-out papers and discarded finds. Her work has been featured in national publications, on HGTV, and in movie productions. She credits Quentin Blake, who illustrated for Roald Dahl, as inspiration for her loose quirky drawings.