Valley of the Rats

Written by Mahtab Narsimhan

DCB

978-1-77086-628-7

232 pp.

Ages 9-12

September 2021

Twelve-year-old Krish Roy has taken himself out of his comfort zone of the indoors, books and cleanliness when he suggests (or perhaps agrees) to an outdoor camping trip with his nature photographer father. Always cognizant of what a disappointment he is to his father who holds Krish's cousin Anjali as an example of how he wishes Krish would be i.e., optimistic, adventurous, outdoorsy, Krish is determined to bond with his dad, even if he has to arm himself with plenty of hand-sanitizer and candies to calm him.

But from the onset, everything seems to go wrong. In the bamboo forests of the Ladakh Range (India), their GPS gets busted and they get lost, they can't get a cell signal, Krish loses his pocket hand sanitizer, a thunderstorm hits and there are rats. Oh, there are rats, and plenty of them. Hopeful that the rats will lead them to people, Krish and his Dad follow them to a village of huts. There they are given shelter by the villagers of Imdur but warned not to leave their guest house or wander the village. In fact, they are adamant that Dad cannot take photos as they do not want people knowing of them.

However, Krish learns soon enough that this camping trip is actually an assignment Kabir Roy has undertaken, hopeful of a blockbuster photo story about a rumoured village of rat worshippers. But all Krish wants to do is fix their radio and get out of Imdur, a community rife with rats and unhygienic conditions. As Krish and his father both try to meet their own needs, the villagers of Imdur, lead by the shaman Imma and her daughter Tashi, try to maintain their secretive community. With a clash of cultures, between father and son, and the reclusive Imdur and those beyond its borders, there may be no happy ending here.

Each time Mahtab Narsimhan takes us into India as she did in several of her earlier middle-grade novels, including her Silver Birch award-winning The Third Eye (2007), The Tiffin (2011) and Mission Mumbai (2016), she drops us into cultures resplendent in myths, food, celebrations, and even superstitions. In Valley of the Rats, she again takes us into a world that is different and even surreal (there is an element of the fantastic in Imdur) and makes it credible. Because Mahtab Narsimhan's fictional village of Imdur was founded after the ecological event called Mautam, there is plausibility to communities like it finding unusual means of survival. Whether or not there really is an Imdur, perhaps by a different name, Mahtab Narsimhan has taken us there, to live with these people who wear rat-skin coats and feed what we consider vermin as if they are their pets or deities. As such, readers should know that they will truly be entering the valley of the rats, and there are no shortage of the creatures.

Still, Valley of the Rats is about survival. It's about the villages of Imdur seeking to survive in a world that gave them famine and rats and no government help. And it's about Krish enduring incredible anxiety to make his father accept him as he is–imagine a germaphobe in a community of rats–and the two of them surviving their encounter with a community that has secreted itself away from the world. Survival by its very nature is precarious; if it was easy, it wouldn't be so uncertain. Who survives and how in Mahtab Narsimhan's story is yet another secret–the plot is rife with them–that will only be revealed in the climatic last few pages but it's worth the wild adventure that is Valley of the Rats.

Optimists Die First

Written by Susin Nielsen

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-782-5

240 pp.

Ages 12+

February 2017

Reviewed from audiobook

Read by Julia Whelan

Listening Library

B01N6PZ3Q3

4 hr 58 min

Apparently optimists do die first.  By ten years.  Pessimists, it seems, are more realistic because they see eventualities the oblivious optimists ignore.  No wonder Petula De Wilde, 16, is obsessed with all the circumstances that can take and have taken peoples’ lives before expected.  Her obsession about all things dangerous has her keeping a scrapbook of news stories of deaths from falling debris at construction sites, a faulty roller coaster or elevator, and even deadly paper cuts, leaving her fearful of everything from double-dipping eaters, public washrooms, biological warfare, and airplanes.  This since the death of her baby sister Maxine two years earlier, a death for which Petula blames herself.  Now she can’t keep herself safe enough.

In lieu of counselling, Petula attends YART, Youth Art Therapy, along with recently out-of-the-closet Alonzo, alcoholic Koula, angry, grief-stricken Ivan and new guy Jacob Cohen, the guy with the bionic arm.  Under the instruction of therapist Betty, the group undertakes a series of juvenile projects.  But, after Petula and the aspiring film director Jacob prepare a cat adaptation of Wuthering Heights (to rave reviews, except from their English teacher), the group convinces Betty to let them organize their own projects, more relevant to their needs and issues.

Amidst their YART sessions, Petula’s phobic life style, overwhelming guilt, regrets over falling out with former BFF and crafting buddy Rachel, and a disintegrating family, Petula and Jacob fall in love.  But Jacob only reveals a few scenes from his life, and apparently a lot of it is fiction, jeopardizing his relationship with Petula and the other members of YART.  Whether they can find a way to heal their own guilts and allow another into their worlds is only up to Susin Nielsen, director of fine stories and creator of characters more real than those we encounter every day.

If you’re familiar with Susin Nielsen’s earlier works (Word Nerd; Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom; The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen; and We Are All Made of Molecules)–and if you’re not, go out right now, rush, get them and read them–you’ll know the power of her writing to blend stories of families in transition with heavy issues like death, divorce and homophobia, while still leaving room for humour and romantic love.  Optimists Die First is a package of inspiritment (even from the tragedies) that serves to entertain because of Susin Nielsen’s diverse characters, human and cat, subplots of secrets and shames, and reassurance of a close that’s more a beginning than an end.

“But that’s life, I guess. We know we can’t do a rewrite.  We can’t undo what’s been done, or control what’s coming next.   

All we can do is hope for the best.”

Just stick to the bright side (away from falling construction debris) and you’ll be just fine.  I’m positive.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Author Susin Nielsen speaks about Optimists Die First in a brief video on YouTube and is accompanied by her cat who is not named Moominmamma, Anne of Green Gables, Ferdinand, Stuart Little, Stanley, Alice or Pippi.

Susin Nielsen talks all things 'Optimists Die First' avec cat

Uploaded by Maximum Pop! Books on March 13, 2017 to YouTube.

The Circus Dogs of Prague: Blog Tour

by Rachelle Delaney

Puffin Canada

978-0-14-318416-4

192 pp.

Ages 8+

For release April 2014

When author Rachelle Delaney introduced the lovable JR, a Jack Russell terrier, in The Metro Dogs of  Moscow (currently being read as a Silver Birch Fiction nominee), she created a new canine hero with a multitude of opportunities for travel and adventure via JR's Human, George, who works for the Canadian embassy.  In this new book, The Circus Dogs of Prague, JR extends his Europe-hopping tale when he and his embassy friends, both canine and human, head off to Prague to visit the family of Nadya, George's girlfriend.

You'd think with George and John Crowley, the Australian ambassador to Moscow, and four dogs–JR, the keenshond Beatrix, and shepherd brothers Robert and Pie–that the apartment that they're staying in would feel full enough to Nadya.  But when she spots a fluffy, long-haired gray cat that reminds of one she knew as a girl, Nadya is determined to adopt Kisa.  Sadly, the dogs, except for Pie, are happier to give chase and treat Kisa with disdain, if not worse.  When JR begins to shake when tormented by some stray cats, he would answer George's question about what he'd seen, if he could, with

"Our future, you lunkhead.  And it's terrifying." (pg. 52)

While the group does some touristing around Prague,  their primary purpose is to visit with Nadya's older brother, Niko, a trapeze artist for Circus Sergei, and his ten-year-old daughter, Masha.  While Niko can do some extraordinary tricks beyond the trapeze, the circus director, Sergei, will not abide change.  Those who want something different have been lured away by the splashy and profitable Circus Magnificus, including Masha's mother and Niko's ex-wife, and now they want Niko too.

When Pie, a budding spoken "word" artist, runs away to join Circus Sergei, JR et al. learn how unhappy the animal performers are, having no free will of their own and doing tricks they cannot do well.  Together the dogs and the circus animals concoct a plan to put on a show where everyone gets to do what they like, with some guest spots with Pie, Beatrix and Kisa, and directed by JR. 

Meanwhile, the home front is less than content with George constantly revealing new phobias, Nadya feeling hampered by George's reluctance to visit those attraction in which she is interested, and Kisa trying to be friends with the dogs but somehow managing to get them blamed and punished for her actions.  Will George and Nadya break up?  Will Kisa come between JR and George and Nadya?  What will happen to Circus Sergei and the animals Masha loves so dearly?

The Circus Dogs of Prague is like a playful romp through an old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland movie where a bunch of friends see someone or organization that needs help and decide to put on a show to make things right.  The dialogue is brisk and flavourful, as "Biscuit Brains" (JR) or the furball (Kisa) would know.  And the details rich, like the contortionist duck known as The Rubber Chicken and the vanity of Beatrix, whose glare translates into scorn, when called "fluffy".

"Fluffy?" Beatrix shot him a glare.  "Pomeranians are fluffy.  We keeshonds are voluminous." (pg. 13)

While illustrating the story with Prague's Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, Kafka Museum, the Bone Church (ossuary), and a sweet cake shop (cukrána) or two, Rachelle Delaney provides fodder for George's reluctance to engage in anything that he deems unusual.  Sadly, those venues or activities seem to be all those Nadya is interested in seeing.  But the friction between George and Nadya, just as it is for JR and Kisa, is ephemeral, lasting only as long as they forget how much they are hurting someone for whom they care.  And, with the acceptance that change isn't always a bad thing, whether for a circus, a dog, or a stubborn human, Rachelle Delaney is still able to lace the humourful plot of The Circus Dogs of Prague with a lesson or two, even for those who fight like cats and dogs.