Walter: The Story of a Rat by barbara wersba

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 26,2025

Very enjoyable, short easy book I read as a reward for finishing a dense memoire. Interspecies relationships, developing friendship through correspondence, producer/consumer influence. A kids' book but with some pretty big words and references to a lot of literature.

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447799

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 26,2025

weird...my review disappeared...i enjoyed this story that about readers and writers...short sweet easy read...does the description say something about 'children's literature' this that the other? sometimes labels help and as often they just make me want to drive faster, get out of dodge. onward, upward.

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sai_chan

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 26,2025

It is a very sweet and moving short children's book. Identity discovery and an allegory for friendship, love, and connection.
And the art work by Donna Diamond is delightful. You will shed a tear.
5

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Porzio

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 26,2025

What a cute story! I read this one aloud to my cats. They loved it! Walter is a rat who loves to read, living in the house of an old lady who writes children's books. Will Walter and Miss Pomeroy ever be friends? I hated for the story to end. It was so descriptive, a gentle story, and Donna Diamond's soft gray illustrations perfectly matched the mood. As Walter himself pointed out, you don't often see stories where rats are depicted in a positive light. Recommended for all readers, human and rodent!

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nicparmesan

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 26,2025

I loved the story of Walter, who tries so hard to overcome his natural inclindations as a rat, who loves books and writing, and who needs companionship. In fact, I sort of wished I could have a Walter living carefully in my attic, but I own two cats—or they own me—and it just wouldn't work out for anyone.

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ricpower77

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 26,2025

I ordered this book from my library after reading about the author passing this past February. I had never come across her work--not being a fan of YA problem fiction. this book, though, I like. books about books.

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ikutokun90

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 26,2025

Thanks to my Goodreads friend Krista’s cats, I read this book. The cats enjoyed it so I figured it must be a good book.

This book is so charming that I as I was reading there were times I could barely stand it. It was very amusing and also extremely lovely and it definitely got to me emotionally. I ached for and felt affection for both the main characters.

This is a very text heavy long story picture book. I’d call it an illustrated novella more than a picture book.

The story is continually and unexpectedly funny, very funny in parts. There is one somewhat gruesome reference that managed to be funny too: “…Walter, had committed only one crime. In a moment of hunger and confusion he had eaten two of his offspring, but he had been only eight months old at the time – a young, impetuous rat – and he had never done it again.” I also enjoyed how the author bio information is one of Miss Pomeroy’s children’s books (about mice) was no longer accurate. It made me think about the validity of those author bios on book covers. I loved the book within the book which is also titled “Walter: The Story of a Rat” and how it comes to be written.

I loved Walter (a lonely rat who can read, and write) and Miss Pomeroy (a solitary children’s books author), but I’m afraid this book won’t win me over to rats in the house (I have had them in my apartment building, luckily never right in my unit except long ago under the cabinet covered kitchen sink) any more than Charlotte's Web reduced my fear of spiders. But Walter, and Miss Pomeroy too, are heroes in this book.

I enjoyed all the references, made by Walter, to many books, mostly those written for adults in the first 2/3 of the book and then to children’s books in the latter 1/3 of the book.

The illustrations are beautifully fitting in gray tone. There are not illustrations on every page and on the pages that have them, they are relatively small and take up much less room than the text story. But the pictures that are there greatly enhance the story.

And, in the end, I really think this is a book for young adults and adults. It’s fun to be familiar with all Walter’s quotes from various books, books that most kids won’t know until they’re adolescents or adults.

Extra credit for this unusual story of a friendship between a rat and a woman seem nothing but amiable and sweet, and not at all disgusting.

Oh, quite a bit of accurate information about rats is included too, though not the ability to read & write parts, obviously.

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trianglehead

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 26,2025

This is the most wonderful book I've ever read about rats. The story and illustrations are both incredibly beautiful, challenging all the negative stereotypes about the brown Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus). There is so much magic and creativity between these pages. It's a fantasy tale about a lonely older woman, a children's book author named Amanda Pomeroy, and an aging rat named Walter who lives in her house and loves to read. They start writing back and forth to each other and instantly become friends. It's like a love letter to both rats and books, my two favourite things.

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Walter: The Story of a Rat

barbara wersba donna diamond

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barbara wersba

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