[.ca] The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents (ISBN 0552546933)

From Amazon.co.uk:
Terry Pratchett returns to children's stories and to his infamous Discworld with Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, a clever spin on the Pied Piper fairytale with a lavish sprinkling of the Practchett magic. Maurice is a talking cat who leads a band of rather special rats from town to town to fake invasions of vermin. Keith, in cahoots with Maurice, turns up with his flute and leads the rats out of town--a hefty reward in tow. It's a scam that works perfectly... until they arrive in the town of Bad Blintz and their ruse is sussed by the young girl Malicia. Maurice and his mice realise they are about to be caught in the middle of something rather bad. This is a fresh and funny adventure story that allows Pratchett to make free use of his immense comic talents (the talking rats are easily some of his most hilarious creations). It's also full of cute little ideas: the mice take their names from cans and packets lying in rubbish dumps, so we have heroes called "Big Savings" and "Best Before". Terry Pratchett has created a wonderful, old-fashioned tale where the subtle morals and lessons never hinder the action. Younger children may initially struggle with Mr Pratchett's unusual style, but once they get to grips with the humour, this will be a laugh-a-minute for both kids and their parents. (Ages 8 and over) --Jon Weir

A cat, some rats, and some stupid looking humans...:
This was a really cute story. Basically, a bunch of rats, snacking on wizardly refuse, attain sentience. They also hook up with a sentient cat. They can all speak, learn, and chat with each other, and at the Cat's devious notion, dupe a "stupid looking kid" to play the role of a rat-piper, moving from city to city where the rats act up, the Piper comes in and clears the rats out, and they all get paid. This time, however, they've stumbled into a town where there's something really evil going on, and all the wisecracking cats, tapdancing rats, and stupid-looking kids in the world might just be in over their heads. Well written, with a bit of whimsy in nearly every chapter, this was my introduction to the Discworld series, and I dare say I'll be back. The wonderful observations from the rats point of view are fantastic (there's a great part where one of the rats is asked something along the lines of: "Do you know what animal swarms into a place, breeds terribly, spoils everything they can't use and wastes everything they can until there's nothing left?" and the rat says, "Sure. Humans.") The story gets a bit dark in places for a young reader, though a teen would probably get a laugh. And the mythology lover in me adores the play on the Pied Piper of Hamelin - like Orson Scott Card's "Enchantment" did for Sleeping Beauty, Pratchett did here for the Pied Piper of Hamelin. 'Nathan

The not-so-amazing Maurice?:
From the first few pages of 'The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents', it was clear to me that this book was filled to the brim with wit and charm. Just the very premise is intriguing from the start, and I found myself laughing out loud at several moments throughout the reading of this book. Unfortunately, the book fails to explore of its possibilities, and when I had finished, I felt dissatisfied. Set in Discworld, which anyone who has ever read a book by Terry Pratchett will be familiar with, a strangely clever tomcat by the name of Maurice moves from town-to-town along with his similarly educated rats, and, as the book often describes him, a Stupid-looking kid named Kieth. What takes place on their arrival in each town is a scam durative to the familiar tale of the Pied Piper. The rats run loose through the town, being so utterly nasty, that the mayor of the town is only too willing to pay Kieth to lure them out of town with his music. Maurice takes the money, with the promise to split it later, and they continue to the next town--the perfect scam... that is, until they reach the town of Bad Blintz. The Rats communicate with each other often throughout the book (they are, argueably, the main characters), and often bring up the 'ethics' of the scam they are helping Maurice pull-off--an unfortunate result of their newly aqquired knowledge. This prepared me for a possible revolt--possibly the Rats rising against Maurice and trying to thwart his scam before he can continue. Sadly, Mr. Pratchett avoids the difficult route, and ends the book with a rather long, drawn-out, somewhat anticlimatic ending. In the meantime, the book is filled with several subplots, none of which do the book any good. 'Amazing Maurice' has only its wit and charm to stand on--without it, it really isn't as amazing as you'd expect.