The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Amazon editorial review Terry Pratchett returns to children's stories and to his infamous Discworld with Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, a clever spin on the Pied Piper fairytale with a lavish sprinkling of the Practchett magic.

Maurice is a talking cat who leads a band of rather special rats from town to town to fake invasions of vermin. Keith, in cahoots with Maurice, turns up with his flute and leads the rats out of town--a hefty reward in tow. It's a scam that works perfectly... until they arrive in the town of Bad Blintz and their ruse is sussed by the young girl Malicia. Maurice and his mice realise they are about to be caught in the middle of something rather bad.

This is a fresh and funny adventure story that allows Pratchett to make free use of his immense comic talents (the talking rats are easily some of his most hilarious creations). It's also full of cute little ideas: the mice take their names from cans and packets lying in rubbish dumps, so we have heroes called "Big Savings" and "Best Before".

Terry Pratchett has created a wonderful, old-fashioned tale where the subtle morals and lessons never hinder the action. Younger children may initially struggle with Mr Pratchett's unusual style, but once they get to grips with the humour, this will be a laugh-a-minute for both kids and their parents. (Ages 8 and over) --Jon Weir

also by Terry Pratchett in our collection:

• Night Watch
• Thud!
• A Tourist Guide to Lancre: A Discworld Mapp
• Where's My Cow?
• Small Gods (Discworld Novel S.)
• Lords and Ladies (Discworld Novel S.)
• Wyrd Sisters (Discworld Novel S.)
• The Colour of Magic (Discworld Novel S.)
• Reaper Man (Discworld Novel S.)
• Witches Abroad
• Guards! Guards! (Discworld Novel S.)
• The Science Of Discworld
• Moving Pictures (Discworld Novel S.)
• Sourcery (Discworld Novel S.)
• Mort (Discworld Novel S.)
• Pyramids (Discworld Novel S.)
• The Dark Side of the Sun
• Strata
• The Carpet People
• Diggers (Truckers Trilogy)
• Wings
• The Streets of Ankh Morpork
• Nanny Ogg's Cookbook
• Discworld's Ankh-Morpork City Watch Diary
• The Discworld Fools' Guild Diary
• Johnny and the Dead
• Johnny and the Bomb
• The Discworld Mapp
• Death's Domain: A Discworld Mapp
• Eric (Discworld S.)
• Carpe Jugulum
• Only You Can Save Mankind
• The Discworld (Reformed) Vampyre's Diary (Gollancz SF S.)
• Discworld Thieves' Guild Diary 2002
• A Hat Full of Sky
• Hogfather (Discworld Novel S.)
• Feet of Clay (Discworld S.)
• Maskerade
• Interesting Times (Discworld S.)
• The Discworld Companion
• The New Discworld Companion (Gollancz SF S.)
• The Last Continent (Discworld S.)
• Jingo (Discworld S.)
• The Wee Free Men
• Thief of Time
• The Fifth Elephant
• The Truth (Discworld S.)
• Soul Music
• Going Postal (Discworld S.)
• Monstrous Regiment
• Wintersmith
• Making Money
• The Discworld Almanac for the Common Year 2005
• The Pratchett Portfolio: A Compendium of Discworld Characters (Gollancz)