Children's books - Walter: The Story of a Rat

Walter: The Story of a Rat

It's hard to know the main audience for this small, old-fashioned, beautiful chapter book, which is told from the viewpoint of a solitary, literary rat (named after Sir Walter Scott) who lives in the house of an elderly, reclusive children's author, Miss Pomeroy. Kids certainly won't get all the references to classical literature, music, and movies, though they'll probably understand Walter's resentment about the absence of rat heroes (there are plenty of mice heroes, but only rat villains) in children's literature. How the two lonely literary creatures, "a writer and a reader," get together is moving and unpretentious. Walter writes Miss Pomeroy a note: "I live here too." She writes back, "I know." Lovely pencil drawings show Walter sitting in Miss Pomeroy's library, right on the pages of a book, reading passionately. Eventually they write more and become true friends. Quiet and unsentimental, this may appeal to readers slightly older than the target audience and to adults who remember the children's books they loved, including those by Wersba. Hazel Rochman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved