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January 1, 2012/in Picture Book Under 5s Pre-School/Nursery/Infant /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 192 January 2012
Reviewer: Rosemary Stones
ISBN: 978-1407124377
Price: £12.99
Publisher: Alison Green Books
Genre: Picture Book
Age Range: Under 5s Pre-School/Nursery/Infant
Length: 32pp
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The Highway Rat

Author: Julia DonaldsonIllustrator: Axel Scheffler

A comic homage to Alfred Noyes’s 1906 narrative poem ‘The Highwayman’, Julia Donaldson’s The Highway Rat echoes to dramatically witty effect Noyes’s rhythmic cadences (‘And the highwayman came riding— /Riding—riding— /The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door’) as her Highway Rat goes riding – riding – to accost and rob travellers of their food.  Outwitted by a clever duck, the wicked rat eventually ends up humbly sweeping the floor in a cake shop while the other animals are now free to travel the highway in safety.

This moral tale is wonderfully illustrated in Axel Scheffler’s tautly uneasy style in which landscape scenes are supplemented with telling vignettes that draw out the detail of the Highway rat’s perfidious deeds.  Scheffler’s quivering line and anxiously expressive eyes add to the drama that will keep young readers in suspense.  Superb fun!

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http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2012-01-01 00:00:362022-01-23 10:53:50The Highway Rat

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