I am sure there are many big, and important books about the nature of consciousness. I am sure they are full of big, and important ideas. And this is a little book. About rats, of all the things. And except for the swearing- in rat and cat languages- appropriate for kids.

What is it that makes us rat- or human? What happens when you die? What is there in the darkness? And what about the darkness behind your eyes?

What is courage? The great speeches, are they about heroes, or about leaders beguiling their men- or rats- to death? What is courage? Where do you find heroes? What is fear? Why do we fear the night?

What is the meaning of it all? Is there any meaning to it all?

And, what are stories? Can they ever be real? What does it take, to make them real?

And, where do you ask these questions?
Phillip Pullman, in an interview I once heard, said that grown-up books are about issues. My girlfriend left me, now what do I do? They can not ask the real questions. The children's books, on the other hand, do ask the real questions. Who am I? Where do I come from? What is my purpose in life?
And it's true. Growing-up is about finding the answers to these questions. And if you are me, you grow up and realize that The answer is 42, and all these questions are not the really interesting questions, the really interesting questions are, say, how do aeroplanes fly? Why are leaves green? Does smoking cause cancer? Do COX2 inhibitors cause MI? The interesting questions are the ones which have interesting answers. Or answers worth finding out. Or something. I am not sure. As far as I am concerned, the answer to is there a soul, is- who cares.

But all the other questions, the ones which don't have real, testable answers, there is a time and place to face them. And the time is at the begining, of life, as well as civilization.

So we have this story about rats, who suddenly find that they can think, and then try to come to terms with it, their newfound status as people. You get lots of cool characters, the ineffectual leader, who gets replaced by the great, inspiring one, the thinker, the unscruplous con-cat with a heart of gold, the girl who believes in stories, and awesome women. Really, Pratchett is the only writer whose female characters are always awesome. They always sound real, are sensible and practical, like real women, and smart, brave, and overall amazing.
So are his heroes. Actually, I think I said this before, but every Pratchett character is very good at what they do. And they are believable. Heck, even his prophets are believable.

He understands religion. He understands racism, bigorty, humanity. He understands dreams, fear, courage. And I have a sneaking suspicion that he understands love. He might be telling stories and building narrative tension, but mostly he talks about reality, and about what things really are, and not what they ought to be for his story to work.

'And, you know, I don't think there're any wonderful islands in the distance for people like us. Not for us.' He sighed. 'If there's a wonderful island anywhere, it's here.

He understands dreams, and stories, and how they change reality and get changed by them.

I left it incomplete, and now it is too late to complete it... ( )

Wee Free 1.

Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com

I have always been told that, as a fan of fantasy and humor, I needed to read Terry Pratchett. And after reading THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS, I now understand what everyone was talking about. Pratchett's style is simultaneously witty, entertaining, and incisive; he succeeds in this children's book in saying more about society than most adult books ever manage, and he does so while making you laugh out loud.

Set in an obscure corner of Discworld, the fantasy world in which Pratchett has written numerous other books for adults, a cat named Maurice discovers suddenly the ability to talk--and not just to talk, but to think and to reason. Maurice believes himself to be the only animal afflicted with this talent, until he discovers a group of rats living in the city dump who have also miraculously achieved the ability of speech and thought. As Maurice is emphatic about his promise to never eat anything that can talk, he and the talking rats get along rather well. Soon, along with the help of an orphan boy named Keith who was raised by a musician's guild, Maurice sets upon a scheme to make some easy money, and the rats go along in their belief that they may someday find a place where they will be free to live as talking rats without the fear of being hunted by humans.

Maurice's plan is simple. If the rats will go and infest a town, wreaking havoc for the space of a few days, the town leaders will be sure to call a rat piper to remove the rats from the town. Then it's Keith's job to show up, pipe the rats away, and receive a generous fee for his troubles, one that the rats and Maurice will share. Keith, Maurice, and the rats go like this from town to town...until they reach the town of Bad Blintz, and everything stops working as planned.

The story is populated by humorous characters that you can't help but take seriously. Maurice's sly cunning is undermined by the fact that he meticulously questions any rat he comes across before eating it, in order to keep up his first promise to the talking rats. The rats themselves are amusing individuals, self-named after the first things they could read in that city dump where they originated, so that the story is populated by creatures who go by Hamnpork, Darktan, Sardines, and Dangerous Beans. But under these hilarious names, they are at heart a people trying to figure out their own origins and explain the things they don't yet understand about their sudden ability to speak, and what that means for their future.

I would recommend this book to anyone who's not afraid to laugh, and anyone who's not afraid to think hard about the ramifications of being a person--or rat, or cat--capable of speech, thought, and reason. ( )

Pratchett's new take on the Pied Piper of Hamelin; amusing in a gentle way ( )

Based upon the pied piper tale, we meet a band of rats led by a cat. By chance, they have gained human intelligence by eating the garbage dumped outside the Unseen University. They make their way by tricking Discworld's human inhabitants. With the help of a gentle lad named Keith, this gang infests towns with sudden plagues of rats that the boy is prepared to rescue, masquerading as a pied piper. ( )

Somehow I had missed this book as I've done various rereads through the Discworld series; I didn't realize it was a Discworld book until recently. I don't really see how it's a young adult book in comparison to most of the rest of that series (I think there are three other YA books?); yes, it has talking animals, but it's a mature and deep book that can be cynical and dark at times. Since this is a Discworld book it has Pratchett's usual wit and humor about it, and the main character is a cat- what's not to like about that? (I want to add that Pratchett writes some very cat-like cats; definitely praise from a cat person!) Like a lot of the other books in the series, this is a sort of parody off another story, in this case the Pied Piper. The characters were all intriguing, especially the rats and the cat. The human characters were far less interesting, but that's mostly because the animals stole the show; the main human character was called "stupid-looking kid" for most of the book, if that gives you an idea of what I mean. (Speaking of stealing the show, my favorite character was Sardines, the tap dancing rat.)

I enjoyed this book, but it was kind of dark for my taste; maybe I was expecting it to be a bit more cheerful and funny since it's a young adult book? Still, though, it was a good read, even if it's not one of my favorite Discworld books. I'm not sure whether to give it 3 1/2 or 4 stars- can I give it 3 3/4? No? In that case, I'll leave it at 3 1/2, but it might go up to four on a later reread- I've read the rest of the series at least three times each, so I'll give this book another chance later, too. ( )

Maurice, Keith, and the rats have a good scheme going: the rats infest a town, Keith walks in, and the town pays him to play the pipes and charm the rats out. Since the Change, when Maurice and the rats learned to think, they've formed an uneasy alliance. But when they find a town where something isn't quite right, things have the potential to become very bad, very quickly. As the rats develop their own code of ethics, they also reveal quite varied personalities. Insightful and whimsical, The Amazing Maurice goes where few cats have gone before. ( )

Although it doesn't involve any of the recurring characters (except of course, Death) this book takes place on the Discworld. If you're not familiar with Terry Pratchett's writing, the Discworld is a British humor parody of the fantasy genre as a whole . . . well, it started out just as that; I don't think that summary does it justice any longer . . . anywho.

This is the story of a cat and a group of rats who through a magical accident became intelligent. Along with the help of a young boy who likes to play music, they work together to run a "rat piper" scam in various towns they travel through. At least, that's how things stand until they reach Bad Blintz. Here they find something truly terrible that transforms all of them. (They also meet a girl named Malicia Grim, a grand-daughter of the Grim sisters, writers of some disturbingly gory fairy tales (much like most fairy tales were before Disney got ahold of them) but I don't know if I want to describe characters in depth right now.))

If read attentively, this is a surprisingly deep book. It's an adventure story with talking animals, yes; but it's also a story about how community and morality are formed, what it means to be a leader, and why widdling on someone's grave isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's a book about the power of stories, the ones we tell ourselves about ourselves and the ones we tell each other about how the world works. Don't get me wrong, the story never gets bogged down in abstract speculation or bland moralizing. Instead it's like a Sunday school teacher in a dunking booth, educational and yet hilarious at the same time.

While I certainly think this book is worthy of awards, I'm amazed that it got a Carnegie Medal for children's books. Pratchett is almost always funny, but this is also a dark and occasionally disturbing book. . . . All that to say, highly recommended.

Pratchett's debut foray into the young adult genre is amongst his best. His characteristic wit abounds as he pokes fun at the fairy tale world (and our own), yet it can get surprisingly dark at times. ( )

I'm not sure if this is more of an adventure or a fantasy, but it was good fun! Pratchett is a master at taking a well known story and giving it a tweak or two until it becomes something completely unexpected. The story in question this time around is the Pied Piper. And the tweak is that the rats are in on the deal and agree to split the money with the piper. So much fun! I liked the cameo appearance by DEATH. If you're a fan of his Discworld books, this one is worth looking for in the kids books. But even if you've never heard of him, this is a great place to begin. ( )

As a long time Pratchett fan I began The Amazing Maurice with a little trepidation, after all, it is aimed at kids, right? One chapter in, I understood that Pratchett has truly mastered pitching a tale for a vast audience. At no point are adults patronised, and I should imagine younger readers would be just as engrossed, although the end seeks absolute closure and is just a wee bit too long. The story's main protagonists are talking rats and an equally smart cat. That in itself would be the central fact of a children's book. Not so here; the dilemmas faced within this tale are deep - there's (rat) philosophy, questions about what it means to have an idea of 'self' and a quirky and amusing outlook from the animal kingdom. Threaded through this is the plot, a typical Pratchett affair, in which an old tale is blended with additional panache, twists and wit. This Discworld story is as clever as expected, however the real winner here is that the new animal perspective allows Pratchett to unleash a book far smarter and engaging than most - absolutely recommended. ( )

Amusing Pied Piper spin-off, educated rats and one educated cat go out seeking fortunes, end up battling evil in small village, winning, striking deal with government and populace. Entertaining. ( )

Another excellent read. ( )

Maurice, Hamnpork, Dangerous Beans and the rest - including the Boy - have a great scam going. The rats scare a few grannies, spoil a few pantry stores, dance across a few tables, and then Maurice and the Boy "play" the rat plague out of town. Sure, it involves lots of widdling, pantry raiding, and trap disposal, but they'd be doing that anyway, so what's the worry? But Maurice IS worried - not only have the rats decided to go straight, but this latest town is ODD.

In typical Pratchett fashion the story is never exactly what it seems. It may be written for a younger audience, but this is still Disc World - where anything can happen, and usually does. ( )

I actually didn't know it was a Discworld Novel when I was reading it, and wondered about the familiar names, thought it was a book to kids set in a similar world, heh.And they are mentioned in another book! Like many other characters are mentioned in other books before they have their own books written. ( )

I never read any of these young adult Discworld novels, because, well, they were YA, and they weren't "proper" Discworld novels, but recently I decided to give them a try anyway.

This is the first of the YA discworld novels (though I don't think the other ones are connected?) and I'm honestly not sure why it wasn't put out as just part of the main series. Sure, it doesn't have any of the familiar characters (except a cameo by Death and the Death of Rats), but there have been other Discworld books with entirely new characters. The reading level didn't feel any different, either, so I don't know. Was it just because Malicia and Keith were children?

Anyway! I'm glad I decided to give it a try as I really enjoyed it. I loved Maurice and the rats (especially Dangerous Beans) and Malicia. I have the rest either on my BookMooch wishlist or already on their way, so that will tide me over til the next Moist book comes out, whenever that may be. ( )

This book is a Discworld version of the Pied Piper. It is the start of Pratchett's YA series of life on the Disc.

Its not bad, but it also is not one of the great Discworld books. It has humor, whimsy and the Discworld way of looking at things. But in the end it fails to satisfy.

A group of rats live on a trash heap outside the walls and behind Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork, and of course the wizards throw their left-overs and failures over the wall. At some point the rats become aware. Yes, they become small people in fur suits with a rat outlook.

Maurice is a cat who prowls the area as well. He also becomes aware, and finds it a terrible burden for a cat. Eventually he ends up hanging with the talking rats because he has more in common with them than the other cats. He doesn't eat them, and he swears he asks his dinner if it can talk before dining.

The cat and the rats pick up an unprepossessing young man who can play a pipe and they are off on a life of low crime, in various small towns in the back of beyond.

There are funny moments, and the cat and the different rats are interesting and well done, though the cat is a bit cliched. I also enjoyed the twist they put on the function of a rat piper. The boy, Keith, is just not developed enough and doesn't really contribute to the story.

There are nasty human baddies, some good quirky local characters, especially Malicia, but it isn't enough to make the story complete. There are some evil rat baddies that are added, to make the book darker, but they only add distraction, and confusion. They live far from the wizards, so how did they become aware ? There is a feeble attempt to explain, but the whole sequence seems to be an added afterthought.

The book is also padded by using larger font, with more space, to make it a decent sized book.

It is s quick, fun, light read that can be finished in a couple of hours. It just isn't very memorable for a Discworld book. ( )

This is a story about a cat and a group of rats who eat something magical and are able to speak and think. They team up with a musical boy and travel from town to town making money 'ridding' the town of rats. Until they meet their match in one of the little town.

Terry Pratchett's young adult books are often better than his adult ones. This one is an example. One typical Pratchett gimmick is to take a traditional story like Macbeth or Cinderella and turn it upside down to see what happens, and this is what he does in Maurice, with the victim this time being the Pied Piper. What if the rats were the good guys, and the ratcatchers a bunch of underhanded goons? Thanks to the garbage heap at Unseen University, we get to find out. The story moves along quirkily, the romance predictably, and Maurice himself really plays out as a complicated character for a story of this type; his death scene could have been juiced into a real tear-jerker for anyone, I think, but is played pretty lightly for the benefit of the younger readers. At the end, a fair amount of consideration goes into the future relationships between Rat and Man, and it winds up almost as a thoughtful political essay that should inspire some consideration for the thoughtful student. Definitely a teachable moment, as they say. It reminds me a bit of Christopher Stasheff's Warlock series that I read as a teenager and was fascinated for the first time ever by the politics of the situation. Maurice is a good light read for adults and a thoughtful story for teenagers. Recommended. ( )

It's a book which puts rats in a positive light, what more could you possibly want?! This was as funny as you can expect from Terry Pratchett (who I truly believe is the master of comedic fantasy) while also being wholly original and very, very clever. Loved it. ( )

Until I saw a preview for Hogfather, I had no idea who Terry Pratchett was. I immediately got on LT to find out more about him. Imagine my pleasant surprise to find he has more than twenty books in his Discworld series.

I decided to start off with a book I had placed in my wishlist awhile back at someone suggestion, MahER.

Loved it. I'm a sucker for twists-on classics, and Pratchett does a great job here, giving us a new look at "The Pied Piper." Maurice, the suddenly talking cat, leads his kid and thinking rodents from town to town, making money off their fears. The rats talk Maurice into making Bad Blitz their last con. Will Bad Blintz con them?

I suggest this to any other Pratchett newbies. There is little connection to Discworld, and you can jump in from there. ( )

The Amazing Maurice (a talking cat), a group of intelligent mice and the kid run a great pied-piper scam. They "infect" the town with rats so that the town official will pay the kid to lead the rats out of town.

They have been making good money at this game for a while now, but little did they know of the dangers awaiting them in the town of Bad Blintz.

Very funny, witting, and clever!

Other books to try: Redwall, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Howl's Moving Castle, Goose Chase

Other books by this author: Wee Free Men ( )

Whoever thought that a pied piper scheme could go bad? In this Discworld Children's novel the theme is explored. A Talking Cat, some talking rats and their musician move from town to town performing a pied piper scheme. All seems to be going well until they enter the town "Bad Blintz". In Bad Blintz, the rat catchers are already running a scheme to fleece the town, the town is in a panic about rats and there is an evil and intelligent rat king living beneath the streets and pulling everyone's strings. An enjoyable intelligent book that I recommend to everyone who is a Discworld fan. ( )

I often vastly prefer Pterry's Tiffany Aching YA books to many of his bona fide novels; the former are actually his funniest writing, IMO. This YA novel was in many ways like the majority of his bona fide novels: a good read, but nothing I'll be itching to reread anytime soon. That said, Pratchett writes at a consistently higher level than most published authors, so it's still well worth your time. ( )

Sympathique, sans plus...
( )