
I remembered that this book was very exciting, and that the ending was a little bit scary (I think I also saw the movie where the end was a little more scary than it is in the book because parts of the scary bits at the end are told, not shown, in the book. Which is appropriate for its age level so it's not too scary.) The debate of experimenting on lab rats and mice is still a hot topic, as is how and why we learn. Are animals as smart as people? Do rats serve a larger purpose in the world beyond spreading diseases? Can drugs make someone - or some rat - incredibly smart, and if so, is that necessarily a good thing? There are a lot of debatable topics in this book but aside from that, it's also just a good story, well-plotted with a sense of urgency from the start, and aside from a few necessary longish bits in the explanation of who the rats are, how they got that way, and how they came to be here on the farm, the book is pretty much action-packed throughout. I think it would be excellent for a reluctant middle reader, especially boys. Even though the main character is female, almost all of the

This review is a part of Kid Konnection, hosted by Booking Mama, a collection of children's book-related posts over the weekend.
I borrowed this book from a friend.
1 comment:
Booking Daughter and I read this one for our Mother/Daughter book club a few years ago. I appreciated it more as an adult, but the opinion was definitely split in our group. Discussion was good though!
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