The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
by
Terry Pratchett
Summary: The
Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is
about a stupid looking kid named Keith, a conniving talking cat named Maurice,
and a clan of educated talking rats. Keith, Maurice, and the rats go from town-to-town
scamming people out of their money by plaguing them with rats and then leading
them away. Then, they come upon the little town of Bad Blintz. Bad Blintz is
not like the other towns they have scammed. Something in the town is not right.
There are no keekee's, native nontalking rats, in the town though the rat
catchers claim there is a plague of them. While the rats begin investigating
the cellars and under workings of the town, Maurice and Keith meet Malicia Grim,
the mayor's daughter. Malicia Grim is more intrigued by stories than reality.
She is always prepared for outlandish adventures and offers unique tools that
help save Maurice, Keith, and the rat clan. While in the underworld of the town
they discover the rat catcher’s evil scheme to make money off the poor town’s
people. There is also an evil so heinous that the
educated rodents lose all speech and revert back to being just rats. The con is no longer a game. Now they are fighting for survival.
Evaluation:
Memorable characters
and a dynamic plot combine to make this a must read book for children ages
ten years and up. The human characters, especially Keith and Malicia, play
supporting roles in the story. Malicia's successful attempts to create a
whimsical story out of real life irritate Keith while providing valuable
lessons for both the characters and the readers. For the most part it is the
rats and talking cat who are the most interesting and developed characters.
Unlike most children's stories that have animal protagonists who are cute,
fluffy and sweet, Pratchett treats rats as they really are- smelly, unclean,
incontinent, and at times cannibalistic. Boys and girls who read this book may
have a hard time identifying with the characters, but will be highly
entertained by the story line itself.
Pratchett has taken the traditional folk tale of the pied
piper and satirically paralleled it with current culture. The rats and Maurice
struggle with the emergence of conscience. Maurice always gives his rodent
victims a chance to talk before he devours them, the rats question of their place in the world, and the powerful
rat king who wants to use their new power of knowledge for war against humans. When
the rats develop their writing in pictograms, it strongly parallels the history
of human writing development starting with hieroglyphics. The rats clan also
parallel human society development. In all human cultures we see a utopian
society lost due to human greed and corruption, some type of holy writing, and
struggle with conflict. In his story the rats mimic this human history with
their dream of utopian rat island, the keeper of the flame, their own version
of the holy book ("Once upon a time Mr. Bunnsy went into the Dark Woods"),
and their struggle with conflict within their selves and their species. Like
humans the rats have to decided how they are going to deal with greed,
corruption, wickedness, and the new threat called EVIL. The target audience for
this book should have at this point learned about the basics of human history
and have most likely experienced greed, conflict, and possibly death making the
story line easy to relate to.
The book also has strong moral values for its young readers.
The rats dream about having their own utopian island society and are on a quest
to fulfill it, but get disillusioned along the way. This teaches the reader to
not give up on their dreams no matter what happens. It also teaches the reader
to work together to solve problems. The main problem that this story addresses is
the human/animal relationship as it exists now. With human society destroying the
worlds animal habitats, Pratchett urges the reader to think about them in a new
light. His conclusion shows the reader that the process will not be simple and that
we need to start thinking about how to do it now before it is too late. Having the
main human characters as children shows the target audience that they have the power
to come up with new ideas and change their world.
All in all this was a great read and highly recommended.
Classroom Extension Activities:
Language Arts Classroom
- Have students pick their favorite character from the book and cast them in a new short story.
- Have students write one more chapter for the story. The book ends with, "Because some stories end, but old stories go on, and you gotta dance if you want to stay ahead."(p. 241) This closing sentence leaves the reader with a hunger for a sequel. Which is perfect for a starting point for students to continue the story.
- Create a travel brochure and ads for Bad Blintz. Students should include the main attractions such as the Rat Clock, rat piper and his dancing rats, as well as other attractions that the students think the town might now have. After the completion of their travel brochure students will present them to the class.
- Compare and contrast the story to other Pied Piper stories. Using the computer lab as well as the library students should compare and contrast at least two other Pied Piper stories setting, plot, characterization, etc. to the novel. How are the rat's point of view of the Pied Piper different from other versions you researched? What about the role of the children in the stories compared to the novel? How does perspective change the story?
- Research origins of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and historical significance
- Topics to expand upon: habitat destruction, endangered species, rats intelligence
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