The Red Hot Rattoons

A rollicking adventure about five tap-dancing country rats who come to the Big City to seek fame, with drawings by Betsy Lewin

Armed with a boom box, a stage wardrobe, and a tube of city maps, five tap-dancing country rats, who call themselves the Rattoons, set off to seek their fame in Rat Hollow-the rat community that pulses with a life all its own beneath the streets of New York City.

But when Rat Hollow turns its back on them, the Rattoons break the law and take their act aboveground to dance for humans in front of the Metropolitan Museum, only to find that danger assails them from every direction. So the Rattoons turn to Oliver String Bean Bailey, the legendary human impresario who knows rat speak. Will he help them achieve their dancing dream?

A rollicking fun-filled adventure, The Red-Hot Rattoons tells the story of a band of lovable characters whose loyalty to one another proves more important than fame and glory.

Elizabeth Winthrop is the author of more than fifty books for readers of all ages, including The Castle in the Attic, which sold over two million copies, and its sequel The Battle for the Castle. Her picture books include Dumpy La Rue, also illustrated by Betsy Lewin, and Halloween Hats, with pictures by Sue Truesdell. The Red-Hot Rattoons is Ms. Winthrop's first middle-grade fantasy novel since The Battle for the Castle.

Betsy Lewin was the recipient of the 2001 Caldecott Honor for her art in Doreen Cronin's Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.