Cinderella's Rat Book

Life is full of surprises for the rat who gets turned into a coachman by Cinderella’s fairy godmother. Susan Meddaugh uses her wit and animated artwork to give a hilarious new take on an old tale in this story of an ordinary rat caught in extraordinary circumstances.

Susan Meddaugh was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Wheaton College, where she studied French literature and fine arts. After working briefly with an advertising agency in New York, she moved to Boston and worked at a publishing company for ten years, first as a designer, then art editor, and finally as art director. While there, she did the illustrations for GOOD STONES (Houghton Mifflin) by Anne Epstein, and then decided to strike out on her own as a freelance illustrator and creator of children's books. Since that time, Susan has written and illustrated many popular books for children, including MARTHA SPEAKS, which was chosen as a NEW YORK TIMES Best Illustrated Book for 1992. In 1998 she was awarded the New England Book Award, given by the New England Booksellers Association to recognize a body of work. Her work also was acknowledged with a New York Times Best Illustrated Award. She lives in Sherborn, Massachusetts.

Publishers Weekly

Fairy tale magic goes comically awry in Meddaugh's (Martha Speaks) witty take on the story of Cinderella. An ordinary rat and his sister Ruth fear they are doomed after they are lured into a rat trap. But they've happened into no ordinary snare: their captor waves a wand and changes the narrator into a coachman ("Well, more of a coachboy") and instructs him to chauffeur a smiling blonde girl to a ball. As the girl dances the night away, the rat/coachboy finds a wizard to work the same kind of form-changing magic on Ruth. Unfortunately, the bumbling wizard's wacky spells change Ruth into a girl who barks like a dog. This zany string of events leads to a satisfying conclusion, just at the stroke of midnight. Meddaugh suffuses her silly plot with a pert drollery that keeps readers intrigued from start to finish. Children will no doubt find encouragement to imagine all sorts of additional twists on the traditional fairy tale. Meddaugh's spirited watercolors capture the rats' frantic and amazed expressions as they tumble through life-altering adventures. And her skillful use of kinetic swirls and sparkles suggests nothing short of magic. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)