Oh, Rats!

June 1, 2019
After being kidnapped by Walter, a chatty red-tailed hawk, a spunky New Jersey squirrel needs to adjust to life with wharf rats on a Manhattan pier. When a violent encounter with hot tar and then a dunk in the Hudson leaves red squirrel Phoenix without his signature dashing fur and adrift in the middle of a dizzying city, sister and brother rats Lucy and Beckett (who also reads and writes) take him in. Soon their community of wharf rats discovers that an odious New York developer (ahem!) named P.J. Weeks is tearing down their beloved pier to build tennis courts. Unlike squirrels, wharf rats are highly organized in their resistance to human encroachment. Phoenix is enlisted to sabotage the electrical grid, surprising even himself with the results. When Walter eventually returns and offers Phoenix a ride back to his original home, a moment of truth allows Phoenix to choose the life that feels most relevant to his newer self. Veteran author Seidler sets just the right pace, with a skillfully drawn handful of characters and an adept rendering of Phoenix's transformation from squirrel to rat. The novel's ambiance, allegory, and illustrations are more reminiscent of mid-20th-century classics than recent anthropomorphic animal fare despite the very current theme. A charming tale of identity, migration, gentrification, and organized resistance. (Fantasy. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 10, 2019
Phoenix the squirrel is used to being “the pick of the litter... the biggest of the bunch, with the most lustrous fur.” But after being snatched by a red-tailed hawk, haughty Phoenix finds himself battered and furless in Manhattan, far from his forest home in N.J. After being unceremoniously dropped in hot tar, then nearly drowned in the Hudson River, he is rescued by two wharf rat siblings: inquisitive Lucy and brainy Beckett. Though he initially holds some stereotypical opinions about rats, the squirrel, an excellent climber with a unique knowledge of electricity, soon finds himself center stage in the rats’ battle against gentrification and the approaching demolition of their pier. Seidler (Firstborn) convincingly portrays rodent-human parallels; the rats’ diverse community is passionately united as they fight to save their home, sabotaging electrical grids to raise awareness and sending strongly worded letters (written by Beckett) to voice their dissent. Soft black-and-white spot illustrations by Evans (the Little Paws series) add further charm to this animal adventure with direct social commentary. Ages 8–12.

August 1, 2019

Gr 3-7-Phoenix is a lucky squirrel. He was the largest in his litter, has the most luxurious tail, and can climb the tallest trees of all the squirrels in New Jersey. His luck runs out when he is kidnapped by a chatty red-tailed hawk named Walter. But Walter doesn't have the best grip, and with Phoenix being so large, Walter drops Phoenix across the river...in Manhattan. This turn of events finds Phoenix dealing with hot tar, which burns off his fur. Then he falls into the Hudson River. Facing certain death, he is rescued by Lucy and Beckett, sister and brother rats. They take pity on Phoenix, and soon the community of wharf rats accept him as one of their own. When the rats discover that a New York developer is tearing down their home to build tennis courts, they organize themselves into a resistance movement. With his talent at climbing tall things, Phoenix is enlisted to sabotage the electrical grid. The results are surprising, even to Phoenix. When Walter returns and offers Phoenix a ride back home, Phoenix must choose the life that has the most purpose. Seidler develops engaging characters for whom readers will root. VERDICT This is a charming tale of finding oneself and choosing one's own destiny. A solid purchase for most libraries.-Amy Caldera, Dripping Springs Middle School, TX

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2019
Grades 3-5 *Starred Review* In an irresistible cross between Robert C. O'Brien's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971) and Kate DiCamilo's The Tale of Despereaux (2003), comes an adventurous story of a squirrel and a pack of wharf rats, whose home is slated for demolition. Phoenix's squirrel life starts off with a good deal of promise, but when a hawk snatches him from his wooded home, his luck takes its first of many turns. Midway through the terrifying flight, the hawk drops Phoenix onto a scalding, tar-covered road in Manhattan. The now-charred squirrel makes his way to a river, only to be washed off its dilapidated dock. When Phoenix awakens, he learns that a pair of rats, Lucy and Beckett, rescued him and brought him to their home in one of the pier's shipping crates. The rat community will charm readers, and eventually Phoenix, with its physical and social organization and its unique inhabitants. And organize they must when a notice is posted on their pier announcing its destruction in three days' time. Sweet pencil illustrations and impressive vocabulary (calamitous! insidious!) are sprinkled throughout, as Seidler raises the story's stakes to electrifying levels while Phoenix and the rats endeavor to save the pier. Important personal growth accompanies Phoenix's derring-do, making for a moving animal-fantasy kids will want to squirrel away for repeated reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)