'Give me your buns and your biscuits! Give me your chocolate éclairs! For I am the Rat of the highway, and the Rat Thief never shares!' Life is not safe for the other animals, as the villainous Highway Rat gallops along the highway, stealing their food. Clover from a rabbit; nuts from a squirrel - he even steals his own hose's hay. Will he finally meet his comeuppance, in the form of a cunning duck? A fabulous, rollicking rhyme, in the style of the famous Alfred Noyes poem, 'The Highwayman', from the authors of 'The Gruffalo' and 'Zog'.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was inspired by the poem, "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. The Highway Rat was a 'baddie' and a 'beast' - he robbed all the animals of their food, even his own horse of his hay. Eventually, all the animals are thin and hungry and the Highway Rat was 'horribly fat'. Then, when he tries to rob a duck she has nothing to steal, so he decides to eat her. The quick thinking duck tricks him, and takes his loot to share with her friends.
The text of the book obviously takes time to become familiar, but it is a nice story, with a good message and the illustrations are excellent. Like all Donadson's books, the text reads like a song or poem and asks to be read aloud. My children particularly liked the Gruffalo biscuits in the cake shop at the end, but there is more to this author/illustrator team than the Gruffalo, as beloved as those books are. I have a feeling that this will also become a favourite bedtime story given enough readings.
The text of the book obviously takes time to become familiar, but it is a nice story, with a good message and the illustrations are excellent. Like all Donadson's books, the text reads like a song or poem and asks to be read aloud. My children particularly liked the Gruffalo biscuits in the cake shop at the end, but there is more to this author/illustrator team than the Gruffalo, as beloved as those books are. I have a feeling that this will also become a favourite bedtime story given enough readings.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Antigone
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
I thought the book was lovely (as does my four year old) but it works better if you are familiar with the original Alfred Noyes poem for it to work. the repeated "riding, riding, riding" derives from the original and I think is brilliant.
THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
I learnt the Highwayman as a child and it was my favourite poem but most Donaldson reading pre-schoolers won't know it so the reading adult needs to work on the metre when reading so that they look forward to the repeated phrases (as you do in the original). It's a lovely pastiche that I thought worked as well for parents (those that know the original) as children. I thought the only shortcoming is that it sort of peters out at the end - it was as if there should have been a better payoff and I thought maybe they were only allowed a set number of pages and had to wind it up. But it's good.
THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
I learnt the Highwayman as a child and it was my favourite poem but most Donaldson reading pre-schoolers won't know it so the reading adult needs to work on the metre when reading so that they look forward to the repeated phrases (as you do in the original). It's a lovely pastiche that I thought worked as well for parents (those that know the original) as children. I thought the only shortcoming is that it sort of peters out at the end - it was as if there should have been a better payoff and I thought maybe they were only allowed a set number of pages and had to wind it up. But it's good.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Chillimama
Format:Hardcover
Loved the original poem and now my 4 and 2yr old love this book. Great story, the text is of course spot on for the little ones, who are at the age where they are full of righteous indignation at 'that baddie' rat, so love the duck's cunning trick. So glad to have the wonderful illustrations of axel back together with Julia's perfect rhyme. Already almost committed to memory from the continuous reading requests!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highway rat
I bought this book fro my granddaughter and she enjoyed me reading it to her very much. This author is always good.
Published 1 hour ago by E M BENDREY
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect
Perfect as usual. You're never wrong when buying a book by Julia Donaldson. The illustrations are great and the whole story funny and instructive!
Published 8 days ago by lovereading
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
Another great book from Julia Donaldson. My 2 1/2 year old loves the book and higly recommend it to all parents as you will enjoy reading it too.
Published 28 days ago by EDu
5.0 out of 5 stars
3 year old loves it.
Along with all the other books by the same author, a big hit with my 3 year old. I personally think her other ones are better but then I'm not the target audience lol
Published 29 days ago by Tp
4.0 out of 5 stars
Usual high-quality Donaldson/Scheffler effort
If you're familiar with Julia Donaldson's works and Axel Scheffler's drawings you will guess that this is another high-standard release. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Otto99
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book
The highway rat is another Julia Donaldson classic which fails to disappoint! great illustrations and repetitive story / rhyme which children love!
Published 1 month ago by jenny
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highway rat
Both myself and my grandchild enjoyed reading thid over and over again. An excellent purchase would definitely recommend the highway rat
Published 1 month ago by MISS J DUBNEWYTSCH
4.0 out of 5 stars
Usual rhyming quality from Julia Donaldson beautifully illustrated by...
Unusually from Julia Donaldson, the main protagonist of the story is a baddie: the Highway Rat is a thief. Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. Hamilton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another winner!
Julia Donaldson never ceases to deliver a fanstastic book, my son (and I) love it! It's a great addition to our Julia Donaldson collection and we would thoroughly recommend it.
Published 1 month ago by berkshire mum of two
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great buy!
Great book, really good fun to read. My son is 3.5yrs and really enjoys it being read to him. If you like 'Room on the broom' then I think you'll like this.
Published 1 month ago by Jac
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