The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Donaldson, Julia

The Highway Rat

32 pp. | Scholastic/Levine | April, 2013 | Trade ISBN 978-0-545-47758-1 $16.99

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Though "The Highway Rat was a baddie," he's a comical one, seizing edibles from animals and even "his own horse's hay!" Finally, a clever duck lures the Rat into a cave with promises of sweets while his victims feast on retrieved loot. Scheffler's cartoon-style illustrations enhance the tongue-in-cheek rhyme with lively portraits of bug-eyed animals looking askance at the not-particularly-fearsome Rat.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2013