I Was A Rat! - Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman's I Was A Rat!
If you've ever wondered what happened to the creatures that were transformed into Cinderella's footmen and page, then this story will amuse and entertain you. One little lad who was having too much fun sliding down banisters with the page boys from the palace, missed Cinderella's coach back home. He finally wends his way through the town to the house of a childless couple called Bob and Joan (a cobbler and washerwoman), where he answers their questions with the phrase "I was a rat!"
They name him Roger for the son they never had and he proceeds to stumble through a series of misadventures, whilst eating pencils, tassels and miscellaneous other (usually inedible) items. There is a quality of innocence and ignorance to this rat-boy, who trusts a little too easily. He gets into trouble at school, and with the Philosopher Royal and his cat Bluebottle, he's put in a freak show, and then falls in with a gang of boy thieves. When he tries to go back to being a rat, people fear the "Monster of the Sewers" as the Daily Scourge dubs him, and it seems that Roger might end up being "Sterminated".
Before that fate can befall him, however, Cinderella, who used to be Mary Jane and is now the lovely Princess Aurelia, gets to meet up again with Roger the former rat, and they commiserate about their situations, which aren't quite as either one of them anticipated. But as Mary Jane concludes "I don't think it's what you are that matters. I think it's what you do."
4 comments:
I read this book a few years ago and thought the premise was hilarious. I also liked the illustrations. It is a hard sell to kids though. I don't know why.
Philip mentioned, during his Q&A session that his American editor took the book into a local school and the kids enjoyed it but didn't get that it was taking off from Cinderella - which was what brought up the issue of children needing to be taught fairy tales and nursery rhymes...
That probably is part of the issue. It is the saddest thing in the world to realize so many of the kids I read to have never heard traditional fairy tales. It is actually part of the curriculum for 2nd grade now. That is interesting that Pullman noted it.
It is very sad - and actually quite appalling too !
I know that Philip used to put on plays of the fairy tales with his classes when he taught - wouldn't have loved to have been a fly on the wall ?
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