“Phoenix woke up early and decided to go look for some food.”

From Tor Seidler’s Oh, Rats!

Phoenix is a young, independent squirrel that while he was the first to move out of his parents’ tree, he’s still too afraid to go down a tree head-first. Another problem that Phoenix has is that he likes Giselle, but she likes Tyrone (a well-to-do squirrel that runs across power lines for fun). In order to get Giselle to notice him instead, Phoenix decides to give power-line-running a try himself, but while a wind storm leads to him being a hero momentarily, it ultimately ends in tragedy. While exploring with Giselle, Phoenix forgets to check for predators by a pond and is picked up by a talkative hawk (Walter) and flown from Manahawkin, New Jersey over New York City to become dinner for Walter’s chicks. However, when Walter becomes the prey of a larger bird, he drops Phoenix over the city and Phoenix has a rough, dangerous landing, but miraculously survives the fall. A pigeon helps the the wounded squirrel find the Hudson River where a pair of rat siblings, the kind Lucy and Beckett (who loves to read), rescue him and take him to a wise old rat named Mrs. P who nurses him back to health. A slew of poisoned rats puts the entire pier in a state of panic, but a crazy idea to turn off the human’s electricity to save the rats’ home draws Phoenix deeper into life with the rats… and maybe they’re not as bad as Phoenix once thought.

The story is unique and develops at a good pace, taking the time to build solid characters without bogging down the story overall. While marketed for children, life and death are repeatedly handled in a way that seems too matter-of-factly for young (or sensitive) readers. The sporadic illustrations are captivating, bringing the characters to life. Overall, Oh, Rats is an entertaining read that is equally surprising and charming.