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beths0103's review against another edition
5.0
When rats move into the building, the bunnies are excited to meet their new neighbors. All of the other animals in the building put ideas into their heads about how untidy and inconsiderate rats are. An important book to read and discuss with kids about how our preconceived notions and prejudices can do more harm than good.
thunguyen's review against another edition
5.0
My kids love this book so much! The drawing is super cute and funny they just set my kids off and they laughed and laughed and laughed at the smallest details!
yapha's review against another edition
4.0
Very good story about about not pre-judging people. For grades K and up.
jgoins's review against another edition
5.0
The entire building of animals have preconceived notions about what their new neighbors -The Rats- will be like and how they will affect the building. The children are the first to want to see the neighbors with plain old curious excitement. It is all the adults who tell them about how terrible rats are. But are they right?
The book starts out at the top floor of the building and picks up more neighbors with worse and worse ideas about rats as they go down to the bottom floor to meet the new neighbors.
The book starts out at the top floor of the building and picks up more neighbors with worse and worse ideas about rats as they go down to the bottom floor to meet the new neighbors.
jesstele's review against another edition
4.0
Liked the moral about not making assumptions about others based on hearsay, but taking the time to speak with others and decide for yourself. Great illustrations too!
wordnerd153's review against another edition
4.0
Great read aloud for discussing assumptions and how prejudices form.
azuki's review
2.0
The rich, progressive storytelling in this book made me hopeful for its conclusion: when word gets out that new neighbors (rats!) have moved into an apartment building, the other mammalian tenants rile each other up with increasing fervor. The stereotypes (dirty, messy, thieving, dangerous) used to categorize these new neighbors will remind adults of the kind of racial and socioeconomic profiling that happens among white and/or middle-class people, when they learn that (for example) Black, immigrant, and/or homeless people are moving into their enclaves.
My hope was that the story would conclude with the neighbors acknowledging and explicitly disavowing their notions -- regardless of who the rats actually ended up being. Instead, the narrative emphasizes that the rats are actually tidy, friendly, harmless, and generous. The tenants were totally wrong about the rats, as it turns out... sheepishly, they all back-pedal on their crusade and pretend as though they had actually been there to welcome, not chase out, their new neighbors. This reinforcement of respectability politics (the idea that THESE rats didn't deserve pre-meditated hatred, not because it's stereotyping, but because they aren't like OTHER rats) does not help young readers challenge their preconceived notions. Young readers also missed the chance to see a meaningful apology from the group. Yes, the tenants vilified the rats unjustly. It was wrong of them to act on those biases, and they're sorry. Will the rats let THEIR new neighbors make things up to them?
I feel that this book lost out on a great opportunity to show children that when we are part of a group that gets something wrong, we can be accountable to our errors directly and vulnerably.
My hope was that the story would conclude with the neighbors acknowledging and explicitly disavowing their notions -- regardless of who the rats actually ended up being. Instead, the narrative emphasizes that the rats are actually tidy, friendly, harmless, and generous. The tenants were totally wrong about the rats, as it turns out... sheepishly, they all back-pedal on their crusade and pretend as though they had actually been there to welcome, not chase out, their new neighbors. This reinforcement of respectability politics (the idea that THESE rats didn't deserve pre-meditated hatred, not because it's stereotyping, but because they aren't like OTHER rats) does not help young readers challenge their preconceived notions. Young readers also missed the chance to see a meaningful apology from the group. Yes, the tenants vilified the rats unjustly. It was wrong of them to act on those biases, and they're sorry. Will the rats let THEIR new neighbors make things up to them?
I feel that this book lost out on a great opportunity to show children that when we are part of a group that gets something wrong, we can be accountable to our errors directly and vulnerably.
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