Vasco, Leader of the Tribe Book

LIKE ALL THE RATS in his tribe, Vasco loves nothing more than to scurry around the harbor in search of discarded fish. But one day he discovers that the members of his tribe have died under mysterious circumstances. Now Vasco is alone . . . until he reluctantly joins some fearsome rats who live deep in the sewers. Among them, he makes some loyal friends and some daunting enemies. And, as he begins to understand that humans are masterminding the extinction of all the rats in the city, Vasco sees only one solution: to flee aboard a ship.

Courageous, humble, and determined, Vasco does his best to guide his exiled companions to a faraway land where they can live peacefully. But in struggling to establish a new tribe, and to find a place they can call home, Vasco must endure countless dangers and rise to many challenges.

Children's Literature

Vasco is a young rat whose entire tribe has mysteriously died. Alone in the world he is soon attached to another tribe. But things are not peaceful in Vasco s world. The mysterious death of his original tribe haunts him. And he does not truly belong to his new, surrogate tribe. Tensions between Vasco and the tribe s violent leader Akar are rising. A violent rebellion soon erupts and sides are taken. Vasco and his new tribe flee on a freighter, but troubles and suffering follow them as they escape towards a new life. This book was translated from the original French, and the translator does an admirable job of capturing the essence of the French prose. But it makes for an awkward and choppy read in English. This would not be an issue if I had been distracted by the story or the characters, but I was not. The story meandered aimlessly and I kept searching for a point in the text. As for the characters, I found the idea of rats as the focal point of the story intriguing. But the rats themselves just never captured my interest. Basically, you can pass on this book and not feel bad about it. Instead I could recommend reading Robert C. O Brien s Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Reviewer: Monserrat Urena