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Title: The Christmas Rat
Author: Avi
Narrator: Jeff Woodman
Format: Unabridged
Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins
Language: English
Release date: 01-22-13
Publisher: Recorded Books
Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes
Genres: Kids, Ages 5-7
Publisher's Summary:
Its the week before Christmas, and Eric is already bored with his vacation. His parents have to work, his friends are out of town, and the city is snowed under. Then he opens his apartment door for an exterminator, and is dragged into the adventure of his life. Anje Gabrail carries a crossbow and lives for his work. When he discovers a rat in the basement of Erics apartment building, he asks the boy to help him kill it. At first Eric agrees, after all, he doesnt have anything better to do. But as the week progresses, Eric finds himself in a fight to save not only the rat but himself as well.
Avi delivers an unusual story full of the magic of Christmas. Narrator Jeff Woodmans stirring rendition perfectly captures both Erics confusion and his growing sense of purpose as he confronts an angel in a most unlikely form.
Members Reviews:
The Christmas Rat
Great book to get a boy interested in reading. Avi has a wonderful way of taking you in and getting you involved in the story.
A mom's review
Weirdly disturbing.
Suspenseful. The best of the horror genre, without the horror.
Not very Christmas-y.
Know your child, and PRE-READ, before you give them this book. This is an odd book; a boy is hunted by the exterminator.
A couple of parenting points:
Point #1) The child in this book gets tricked into making a vow to help an exterminator kill all rats (but one in particular) -- "so help me, God." Seriously, the 11-year-old child makes this vow, at the prodding of the exterminator. (As a parent, I'm glad this book presents the possible negative consequences of swearing a vow in God's name.)
Point #2) The exterminator, Anjel Gabrial, is well written. From the beginning, you don't know whether to trust or not to trust him, and the story does not answer that question.
Point #3) Avi does one of my pet peeves -- he makes an ex-military person out to be the bad guy/weirdo/psycho death-obsessed person. "See, kid, I was in the military... Trained to kill... The works. You name it.... I was good at it, too... Didn't take me long to figure out that unless I found a job which would let me kill -- legal-like -- I'd be in trouble. So I got me a job as an exterminator...Hey, I like killing things..." (p.15)
If this were all that there was in the book, I would give it a one-star-ranking. But the book is so well-written -- suspenseful without bloodshed, and open-ended -- and the characterization of Eric (the child) is so complete, that I think it's a great book. A memorable message about not letting yourself become bored with life, that life is precious. So I *do* recommend it, as long as parents know what they are getting.
disappointed - Avi is an Incredible Author
A tale that could have served to warn children to share "secrets" with their parents, shows children they can handle dangerous situations without an adult's help. This boy is totally self reliant. He handles everything without his parent's 'help or knowledge. That might be fine except Anje is dangerous. He threatens the boy's life, shoots at him with a crossbow and gains access to the boy's locked apartment in the middle of the night.
I'm stepping off my soap box. The story should capture a child's full attention.
