I Was A Rat... or the Scarlet Slippers

Phillip Pullman (author)

Peter Bailey (illustrator)

Corgi Yearling, UK: 1999; 175pp

ISBN: 0440863759

Genres: fairytale, fantasy

Issues:  family, friendship, identity, trust

Roger turns up late one night on Bob and Joan's doorstep: an ordinary child of nine who insists that he used to be a rat.

Good folk that they are Bob and Joan try to find the boy's real home but it soon becomes apparent that nobody is quite sure what to do with a boy who has no memory and who insists that he was born a rat - three weeks ago!

Bob, a cobbler, and Joan, a washerwoman, have always wanted children so they are happy to take Roger in. But rumours spread and it's a greedy world - soon there are others who think that Rat Boy might prove a lucrative addition to their circle. Will Roger survive these dark adventures and find his way back to Bob and Joan? And why does the mysterious Princess Aurelia, whom Roger knows as Mary Jane, take such an interest in his case?

A whimsical slant on a traditional fairy story, ‘I Was A Rat' will amuse and delight imaginative readers. Pullman's writing is concise, clever and carries a cynical subtext about the power of the media, amongst other things. Pullman has obviously had a great deal of fun writing a story that explores the question, ‘what would happen if one of Cinderella's coach rats didn't turn back at midnight?' Young writers could easily use this novel as an example of how to ‘play' with traditional tales. Highly recommended.