Pie-Rats!

by Lisa Frenkel Riddiough, David Mottram (Illustrator)

Overview

A pirate’s sweetest treasure is dessert!

Pie-rats sail the starry night,
seeking treasures baked just right.
Pie-rats don't want gold doubloons—
their bounty comes on forks and spoons.

A band of swashbuckling pie-rats has only one goal: to find dessert! Whether it's banana cream, lemon meringue, apple, or cherry, these ravenous rodents will battle storms and scallywags to find the best pie. But will their adventures reveal that there is more than one way to satisfy a sweet tooth? With rollicking rhyme and lively illustrations, Pie-Rats is a hunger-inducing read-aloud that will have readers begging for another helping.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593203286
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/12/2024
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	599,524
Product dimensions:	10.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD390L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Lisa Frenkel Riddiough has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University. She is also the author of the middle grade novel Elvis and the World as It Stands. She lives in Northern California with her husband in their empty nest, where they eat lots of dessert.

Visit her at LisaRiddiough.com or follow her on Instagram and Twitter @LisaRiddiough.

David Mottram worked as a graphic designer for many years before illustrating full-time. He is the illustrator of The New Kitten by Joyce Carol Oates and the Wordy Birdy books, among many others. He lives in Ohio.

Visit him at DaveMottram.com or follow him on Instagram and Twitter @Dmott70.

Editorial Reviews

"The puns, rhymes, and wave-rocked rhythms will please many, and for in-lap or solo readers the thrills are enhanced by colorful, cartoonish illustrations with lots of details to notice. Avast, mateys! Here be treasure." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2023-12-16
Rodents dressed like Captain Hook seek dessert.

Being tossed through stormy seas doesn’t bring these intrepid pie-rats to their knees, and even when there are no pies to be eaten, these scurvy dogs won’t be beaten. Yes, a period-costumed rat-crew mans (rodents?) a ship with an enormous spoon for a figurehead. They clutch oversize cutlery instead of cutlasses; a spoon and pie server stand in for skull-and-crossbones on the captain’s cocked hat. Their refrain, shouted out from the poop deck, main deck, ratlines, and lookout, is simply “PIE, PIE, PIE, PIE!” While gazing at clouds that resemble pies, they yell out their favorite flavors: “Pumpkin, apple, that one’s cherry / Plum, pecan, a slice of berry.” Undeterred by a typhoon, they spy a “dessert-ed island,” swim ashore, and trek through a Candy Land–esque world. Alas, a troupe of “scallywags” (aka hamsters) has somehow eaten every last pie: The tins hold only crumbs. Preparing to fight (though there’s no prize now), the riled rodents luckily spot another island feature: hillocks of sumptuous cake. Surprise, surprise, they dive in; “pie-rats aren’t that picky.” The puns, rhymes, and wave-rocked rhythms will please many, and for in-lap or solo readers the thrills are enhanced by colorful, cartoonish illustrations with lots of details to notice: the meringue moon, red crabs, pie-shaped clouds, and more.

Avast, mateys! Here be treasure. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews