The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

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This happened to be my first Pratchett book and why I did not love it, I still found myself greatly enjoying it whilst I read it. I do have this hunch where I think that absurdist fantasy(is that what you call it?) is probably not my thing. Whether I will like it more the more kind of these books I read or not, I’ll have to see but compared to what is considered as ‘normal’ fantasy, this is really far out there as many people have already noted. novel in the Discworld ® series, but the first written for children. The Amazing Maurice is a lively and entertaining adventure inspired by the German fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin and a parody of the folk tale genre. Pratchett won the annual Carnegie Medal for the book – children’s literature’s highest award. Despite many other awards, honorary degrees and the knighthood that followed, Sir Terry Pratchett always emphasised that this was the award of which he was most proud. Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list. Pratchett won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best children's book published in the U.K. [2] It was his first major award. [1] Series [ edit ] One thing I loved as a kid, and which I still love now, is when children’s books have darker edges to them. Kids live in this world same as adults. They worry about death and violence and hunger. Like, kids are people, too, and their literature shouldn’t ignore or sugarcoat those aspects of humanity. The best kids and young adult books are always the ones that know this. I guessed going in Pratchett would be that kind of author, and I was right.

Well, I have definitely learned a lot about rats. I have mixed feelings about this book. Terry Pratchett is usually SO GOOD at mixing light-hearted silliness with a more macabre subject matter, but this time something felt a little… off. The rats are great at first, a nice blend of ratty grossness and the angst that comes with sudden enlightenment… or puberty. The rat characters are well-developed and as authentic as a bunch of talking rats can be. Maurice the cat is also a wonderful character. BBC Radio 4 broadcast a 90-minute dramatisation on 23 August 2003, which was repeated on BBC 7 on 2 June 2007 and 27 April 2008. The character of Dangerous Beans was voiced by David Tennant. Darktan's voice was a spoof version of Sean Connery's Scottish burr. The narrator in the adaptation was Maurice himself, describing to Dangerous Beans how they arrived at the perilous situation near the end of the plot. Quotes from Mr. Bunnsy Has an Adventure, which appear as chapter heads in the book, were read by Rebecca Norfolk, aged 8, who played "Child reader" in the BBC Radio 4 production. To mark the occasion of Terry Pratchett's knighthood, it was broadcast on BBC 7 again, along with other dramatizations of his work, in February 2009.4 Malicia believes that the rat catchers are up to something and so she, Maurice, and Keith break into the rat catchers' hut. She crouched down and peered into the hole. ‘There’s a sort of little lever,’ she said. ‘I’ll just give it a little push …’ As the rats move into the town's underground, they discover an overwhelmingly large number of rat traps, but no live keekees (rats who can't talk or think).On 6 April 2021, Tom Howe was announced to composed the film's musical score. [12] Release [ edit ] He’d lived in a theatre and once ate a whole box of greasepaint. It seemed to have got into his blood. Ramachandran, Naman (5 November 2020). "Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke to Voice Terry Pratchett Adaptation 'The Amazing Maurice' ". Variety. Archived from the original on 5 November 2020 . Retrieved 7 November 2020.

They didn’t notice that some rats stayed on the bridge, urging the others with shouts of ‘Remember, strong regular strokes!’ and ‘There’s a nice beach just downstream!’ and ‘Hit the water feet first, it won’t hurt so much!’ I’m realizing on this read that I have no clue how old the kids are? Keith and Malicia sound a bit older than I think they’re intended to be, but Pratchett does tend to write lots of his central child characters as pretty precocious. Your guess is as good as mine, is the point. Asides and little thoughts: This animated family film is based on the wildly popular Discworld ® novels and will star Hugh Laurie ( Avenue 5) as Maurice, Emilia Clarke ( Game of Thrones) as Malicia, David Thewlis ( Wonder Woman) as Boss Man, Himesh Patel ( Yesterday) as Keith, Gemma Arterton ( The King’s Man) as Peaches, Hugh Bonneville ( Downton Abbey) as The Mayor, David Tennant ( Doctor Who) as Dangerous Beans, Ariyon Bakare ( His Dark Materials) as Darktan, Rob Brydon ( Roald & Beatrix: The Tale of the Curious Mouse) as The Pied Piper, Julie Atherton ( Avenue Q) as Nourishing and YouTuber Joe Sugg as Sardines. The film tells the tale of Maurice, a large talking cat, who travels from town to town offering to solve their sudden rat problem. He unveils Keith, a young boy who can play the pipe quite well, and the rats march out of town to the relief of the townsfolk. Maurice and the money received from the grateful town suddenly disappear and he reappears a suitable distance away to count the money with Keith and the rats! But these are no ordinary rats – they talk and wear clothes and dream of an island paradise where rats and humans live together in peace. All goes well with their ‘rat scam’ until they reach the town of Bad Blintz, where they meet a book-obsessed girl, Malicia, who leads them on an adventure to solve the mystery of her town. When it gets it right, which is 95% of the time, it is 120% right. I was blown away by the depth of the themes in this "children's" book; philosophical musing on the meaning of sentience and existence, with some bits about leadership, stories, nature vs. nurture, some other stuff. (I'm not great on themes.) A movie based on this book was released last year; I can't imagine they got those parts right, but maybe?Maurice tells a town of people that they have a plague of rats, illustrated by various rats terrorizing the townsfolk and convinces them to pay for Keith, the pied piper, to lead them outside of the town. Outside the town, the rats are revealed to be sentient and literate, working with Keith and Maurice to defraud towns. Hamnpork dies of injuries sustained while fighting in the rat coursing pit, and Darktan reluctantly assumes control of the Clan. ...

Dangerous Beans – an albino rat who has acted as a kind of spiritual leader for the Clan since they became intelligent after eating rubbish from behind Unseen University. Darktan observes that Dangerous Beans is the Clan's much-needed philosopher, finding and "disarming" dangerous ideas for the group. For example, Dangerous Beans is the one who they all turn to for answers to questions of rat cannibalism, stealing, and the phenomenon of dreaming. He is also the interpreter of the rats' "bible", a children's book called Mr. Bunnsy Has An Adventure, which depicts rats and other animals living in harmony with humans, speaking and dressing like them. When Malicia observes that this book's utopian society is entirely fictional, Dangerous Beans and his assistant Peaches run off in despair. The rats of the Clan feel it too, and many become so afraid that they all but forget how to think and reason.Gosh, really,’ said Maurice, wondering if there were any more fish-heads and, if there were any more fish-heads, whether they were worth all this.

Byrnes, Paul (10 January 2023). "Stars turn Terry Pratchett's satire into a fast and furry-ous comedy". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 30 June 2023.Maurice is a madly inventive retelling of The Pied Piper, featuring ragged-eared, fast-talking tomcat Maurice as the brains of the outfit. His cronies the rats can talk too, thanks to their hazardous-magical-waste diet amid the trash-heaps behind Unseen University. a b c d e Ezard, John (12 July 2002). " 'Pied Piper' brings belated literary reward". The Guardian. London . Retrieved 25 May 2010. Peaches – a small female rat who acts as Dangerous Beans' assistant and the Clan's scribe. She is the unofficial carrier (dragger would be the more appropriate term) of the Thoughts, and Mr. Bunnsy Has An Adventure. Maher, Kevin (29 June 2023). "The Amazing Maurice review — meta gags ruin rat caper". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 30 June 2023.