Sonderbooks Book Review of Rat Boys

Reviewed February 11, 2002.
A Sonderbooks' Best Book of 2002 (#8, Young Adult and Children's Fantasy and Science Fiction)
Hyperion, 2001. 154 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF EBE).

This book is a hoot! In a moment of foolishness, ninth grader Marci Kornbalm tells the prissy and perfect Jennifer Martin that she and her best friend Summer have dates for the Spring Fling dance, despite the fact that it isn’t true. However, when a friend finds a magic ring, she solves their problem by making a wish and transmutating two white rats into two adorably cute dates. There is a little problem that they don’t speak English and want to eat everything in sight, but that can be overcome, right?

This book is delightfully funny. The author has wonderfully captured the voice of a ninth grade girl, without feeling the need to make it crude (like the author of The Princess Diaries did). The situation definitely gets out of hand, but all the time it stays funny. Marci and Summer are likable girls and we root for them to win all the social success they can get out of the situation. This is quick reading and great fun.

Reader comment: Brittany gives this book 5 stars and says, "this book is pretty much the best book i have ever read. this book i could almost never put down when i started to read it."

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****Rat Boys*

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by Thom Eberhardt