The children who smelled a rat

Format:

Book

Title:

The children who smelled a rat

Author:

Ahlberg, Allan.

ISBN:

9780763628703

9781415634585

Edition:

1st U.S. ed.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

80 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm

Contents:

The package -- Bye-bye, baby -- "Tweet, Tweet!" -- 10 lb 5 oz -- The teacher who wasn't herself -- Little lost bird -- Frightening Mrs. Fritter -- Look into my eyes -- Up and away -- Beethoven and spinach -- Meanwhile -- The face -- In the dungeon -- Elsewhere -- Digging like crazy! -- Horace the hero -- Tricky situation no.2 -- The simplified version -- Happy endings.

Summary:

All the Gaskitts have a bad day when the baby rolls away in a shopping cart, the twins' teacher acts peculiar, and a lost bird tries to hypnotize the cat.

Reading Level:

Elementary Grade.

710 Lexile.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader 3.5.

Reading Counts! 2.3.

Subject(s):

Pets -- Juvenile fiction.

Teachers -- Juvenile fiction.

Triplets -- Juvenile fiction.

Genre:

Added Author:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	Ahlberg, A.	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Early chapter book readers will chuckle their way through Allan Ahlberg's latest madcap tale about the resilient Gaskitts, in which Gus and Gloria take center stage.

In this thrilling and amusing Gaskitts story, Mrs. Gaskitt finds a very peculiar package, Mr. Gaskitt loses a baby in a shopping cart, Horace the cat has mixed feelings about a bird, and the twins' beloved teacher, Mrs. Fritter -- ooer! -- is not herself. Why? How? When? And why does everyone keep looking the other way? Tune in for the astonishing answers in this silly story of the ever-surprising Gaskitt family, illustrated with comic finesse by Katharine McEwen.

Author Notes

Allan Ahlberg was born in 1938 in South London, and grew up in the Black Country. He worked as a teacher, postman, grave digger, soldier and plumber's mate before he became a full-time writer.

He met his wife and creative partner, Janet at teacher training college. It was because Janet wanted to illustrate a book that Allan wrote his first book, the Brick Street boys. After that, together they wrote 37 books.

Janet died in 1994 and Ahlberg discontinued his writing career for a few years before picking it up again.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 2-5-This fourth book about the Gaskitts is genuinely entertaining. Horace, the family's cat, describes it as "unputdownable," and it is. Several threads occur simultaneously: Dad chases the baby in a runaway stroller; taxi driver mom finds unusual packages left in her cab; and the children try to solve the mystery of their teacher's strange behavior. McEwen's quaint, cartoon illustrations are integrated throughout the chapters and have captions that tell yet additional tales. Teachers will find useful Ahlberg's inclusion of literary devices in addition to the multiple adventures of the Gaskitts. The book has 16 easy-to-read chapters, a glossary, a table of contents, and footnotes referencing events that occurred in the previous adventures-all devices to teach children about intricate and detailed story reading and writing. This is a gem of a book: funny, riveting, absorbing, unputdownable!-Jodi Kearns, University of Akron, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

In the third Gaskitt family adventure, Gus and Gloria's teacher develops some troubling characteristics, and Dad chases a runaway shopping cart with baby Gary inside it. The spirited narrative features humor (both sophisticated and slapstick), propulsive action, an attention-grabbing direct address to the reader, and much play with the form of the book--a neat mix of chapter- and picture-book. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Gr. 2-4. Ahlberg and McEwen follow up The Cat Who Got Carried Away (2003) with this fourth witty, slightly wacky story about the Gaskitt family. Departing from the predictable, linear plot expected in books for the primary grades, Ahlberg sends his characters off in several directions and zigzags from one to another in telling this amusing and sometimes surprising story. The children attempt to solve the mystery of their teacher's sudden personality change, while their mother chases passengers who leave mysterious packages in her taxi and their father pursues their runaway baby, whose shopping cart has carried him into an improbable adventure. Layout on the double-page spreads varies from a single illustration to several panels to many tiny pictures interspersed with text, but the watercolor-and-crayon artwork always looks fresh, bright, and full of energy. Original and entertaining. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2005 Booklist