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Sadie and Ratz
Award-winning Sonya Hartnett spins a tale for younger readers about mischief, siblings, and taking matters into your own hands.
Sadie and Ratz are the names of Hannah's hands. They aren't animals, but they behave like wild beasts, says Dad. For one thing, they're always after four-year-old Baby Boy (whom Sadie wishes were a dog). They jump onto his head and try to rub his ears off. Baby Boy knows how to turn the tables, though, and when he spills milk on the carpet, he tells Grandma that Sadie and Ratz pushed him. But when Baby Boy goes too far, Hannah may have to send Sadie and Ratz on vacation to prove their innocence. Multi-award-winning author Sonya Hartnett brings her original sensibility, wry humor, and engaging characters to a younger audience, aided by Ann James's inviting illustrations.
Sadie and Ratz are the names of Hannah's hands. They aren't animals, but they behave like wild beasts, says Dad. For one thing, they're always after four-year-old Baby Boy (whom Sadie wishes were a dog). They jump onto his head and try to rub his ears off. Baby Boy knows how to turn the tables, though, and when he spills milk on the carpet, he tells Grandma that Sadie and Ratz pushed him. But when Baby Boy goes too far, Hannah may have to send Sadie and Ratz on vacation to prove their innocence. Multi-award-winning author Sonya Hartnett brings her original sensibility, wry humor, and engaging characters to a younger audience, aided by Ann James's inviting illustrations.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
7 people are currently reading
535 people want to read
About the author
Sonya Hartnett
40 books311 followersSonya Hartnett (also works under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern) is, or was, something of an Australian child prodigy author. She wrote her first novel at the age of thirteen, and had it published at fifteen. Her books have also been published in Europe and North America. Her novels have been published traditionally as young adult fiction, but her writing often crosses the divide and is also enjoyed by adults.
"I chose to narrate the story through a child because people like children, they WANT to like them," says Sonya Hartnett of THURSDAY'S CHILD, her brilliantly original coming-of-age story set during the Great Depression. "Harper [the young narrator] is the reason you get sucked into the characters. Even I, who like to distance myself from my characters, felt protective of her."
The acclaimed author of several award-winning young adult novels--the first written when she was just 13--Australian native Sonya Hartnett says she wrote THURSDAY'S CHILD in a mere three months. "It just pulled itself together," she says. "I'd wanted to set a story in the Depression for some time, in an isolated community that was strongly supportive. Once the dual ideas of the boy who tunneled and the young girl as narrator gelled, it almost wrote itself--I had the cast, I had the setting, I just said 'go.' " Accustomed to writing about edgy young adult characters, Sonya Hartnett says that identifying with a seven-year-old protagonist was a challenge at first. "I found her difficult to approach," she admits. "I'm not really used to children. But once I started, I found you could have fun with her: she could tell lies, she could deny the truth." Whereas most children know "only what adults want them to know," the author discovered she could bypass that limitation by "turning Harper into an eavesdropper and giving her older siblings to reveal realities."
In her second book with Candlewick Press, WHAT THE BIRDS SEE, Sonya Hartnett once again creates a portrait of childhood. This time the subject is Adrian, a nine-year-old boy living in the suburbs with his gran and Uncle. For Adrian, childhood is shaped by fear: his dread of quicksand, shopping centers, and self-combustion. Then one day, three neighborhood children vanish--an incident based on a real case in Australia in the 1960s--and Adrian comes to see just how tenuous his safety net is. In speaking about Adrian, the author provocatively reveals parallels between herself and her character. She says, "Adrian is me in many respects, and many of the things that happen to him happened to me."
Sonya Hartnett's consistently inspired writing has built her a legion of devotees. Of THURSDAY'S CHILD, Newbery Honor-winning author Carolyn Coman says, "Hartnett's beautifully rendered vision drew me in from the very start and carried me along, above and under ground, to the very end. This book amazed me." The achingly beautiful WHAT THE BIRDS SEE has just as quickly garnered critical acclaim. Notes PUBLISHERS WEEKLY in a starred review, "Hartnett again captures the ineffable fragility of childhood in this keenly observed tale. . . . Sophisticated readers will appreciate the work's acuity and poetic integrity." Sonya Hartnett's third young adult novel, STRIPES OF THE SIDESTEP WOLF was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.
Sonya Hartnett lives near Melbourne, Australia. Her most recent novels are SURRENDER, a mesmerizing psychological thriller, and THE SILVER DONKEY, a gently told fable for middle-grade readers.
"I chose to narrate the story through a child because people like children, they WANT to like them," says Sonya Hartnett of THURSDAY'S CHILD, her brilliantly original coming-of-age story set during the Great Depression. "Harper [the young narrator] is the reason you get sucked into the characters. Even I, who like to distance myself from my characters, felt protective of her."
The acclaimed author of several award-winning young adult novels--the first written when she was just 13--Australian native Sonya Hartnett says she wrote THURSDAY'S CHILD in a mere three months. "It just pulled itself together," she says. "I'd wanted to set a story in the Depression for some time, in an isolated community that was strongly supportive. Once the dual ideas of the boy who tunneled and the young girl as narrator gelled, it almost wrote itself--I had the cast, I had the setting, I just said 'go.' " Accustomed to writing about edgy young adult characters, Sonya Hartnett says that identifying with a seven-year-old protagonist was a challenge at first. "I found her difficult to approach," she admits. "I'm not really used to children. But once I started, I found you could have fun with her: she could tell lies, she could deny the truth." Whereas most children know "only what adults want them to know," the author discovered she could bypass that limitation by "turning Harper into an eavesdropper and giving her older siblings to reveal realities."
In her second book with Candlewick Press, WHAT THE BIRDS SEE, Sonya Hartnett once again creates a portrait of childhood. This time the subject is Adrian, a nine-year-old boy living in the suburbs with his gran and Uncle. For Adrian, childhood is shaped by fear: his dread of quicksand, shopping centers, and self-combustion. Then one day, three neighborhood children vanish--an incident based on a real case in Australia in the 1960s--and Adrian comes to see just how tenuous his safety net is. In speaking about Adrian, the author provocatively reveals parallels between herself and her character. She says, "Adrian is me in many respects, and many of the things that happen to him happened to me."
Sonya Hartnett's consistently inspired writing has built her a legion of devotees. Of THURSDAY'S CHILD, Newbery Honor-winning author Carolyn Coman says, "Hartnett's beautifully rendered vision drew me in from the very start and carried me along, above and under ground, to the very end. This book amazed me." The achingly beautiful WHAT THE BIRDS SEE has just as quickly garnered critical acclaim. Notes PUBLISHERS WEEKLY in a starred review, "Hartnett again captures the ineffable fragility of childhood in this keenly observed tale. . . . Sophisticated readers will appreciate the work's acuity and poetic integrity." Sonya Hartnett's third young adult novel, STRIPES OF THE SIDESTEP WOLF was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.
Sonya Hartnett lives near Melbourne, Australia. Her most recent novels are SURRENDER, a mesmerizing psychological thriller, and THE SILVER DONKEY, a gently told fable for middle-grade readers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
April 2, 2012
Children are literal creatures. They have to be. If you tell them something that says one thing and means another they need a certain level of sophistication to be able to parse your speech. And generally speaking the older they are the more likely they may be to interpret you correctly. Does that mean that all children's literature should be inherently straightforward and matter-of-fact? No! Just because kids can be literal that doesn't mean a bit of metaphor doesn't do them any good. Metaphors are fantastic for kids. Aside from juicing up otherwise boring narratives they learn how to read fiction in whole new, enterprising ways. That's why handing a third or fourth grader Sadie and Ratz isn't going to throw them too much. Don't get me wrong, it's weird, it's like nothing else on the shelf, and there's a darkness at work not normally seen in books for this age group. It also happens to be pretty much the best book for kids published in America in the year 2012. Kids will like it and grown-ups will be mildly freaked out. What's not to love?
Hannah likes lots of things like ponies and stroking her mom's hair. She also likes her hands which she has named Sadie and Ratz. Unlike Hannah, Sadie and Ratz are wild beasts. They like to scrunch and twist and scratch things. Unfortunately for everyone, what they like to scrunch and twist the most is Baby Boy, Hannah's naughty little 4-year-old brother. She feels it's the only way to keep him in line, and so she's utterly unprepared the day he turns the tables on her. One moment he's drawing on the wall and the next he's ratting out Sadie and Ratz for his crime. Suddenly Sadie is reconsidering the wisdom of punishing him every time he fingers her for a new crime (which only gets HER in trouble). Still, when Baby Boy pushes his luck and goes too far, Hannah realizes that she may have more in common with her little brother than she ever expected.
So I'm going to go out on a limb here and compare this to Where the Wild Things Are. I acknowledge that to do so is relatively crazy. I mean, Sendak's classic is considered the pinnacle of modern children's literature. To compare any book to it is to do that title a disservice. All that understood, hear me out. I breathe these two books in one breath because at its heart Sadie and Ratz does something I think Mr. Sendak would appreciate. There's this strange dark undercurrent to your average everyday child. A streak in them that understands jealousy and cruelty and that is simultaneously attracted and repelled by the children in books who exhibit those same qualities. Max in WTWTA embraces his worst aspects at the story's beginning, is punished, and then builds his own world where he has the power. Hannah is similarly punished when she gives in to her darkest feelings but her fantasy lies not with another world but within her own body. There's so much going on in the scene where she stares at Sadie and Ratz imagining that to tame them (paging The Little Prince) would be to break their hearts. There is also a deep and abiding darkness to the book that delves into places that a less honest short novel wouldn't tread. Hannah's torture of her little brother clearly gives rise to his own naughtiness, a fact she celebrates at the story's end. And one can't help but think when they encounter the twist on the last page kids will find it interesting and amusing while parents (identifying with Hannah's) will groan a little in worry.
I also think kids will identify with the weirder ideas in this book even if they don't quite understand them. At one point Hannah sends Sadie and Ratz "on vacation", though her hands themselves are clearly still attached to her wrists. She also describes their talents and dreams. In one part that I particularly liked Hannah says "When Sadie grows up, she wants to be a dragon. When Ratz grows up, he wants to be a bigger Ratz." That sort of blew my mind a little bit. Hartnett's writing is incredibly simple but somehow manages to use only a few words to convey a rich and complex little tale. Would that more shared her talent.
There's an off-kilter sophistication to Baby Boy's retaliation too. It's on a small scale but in many ways this is a look at a war. Baby Boy has always been weaker than Hannah, and there's no way he could physically fight back against Sadie and Ratz. It's almost an inspired bit of 4-year-old genius that he realizes that if he goes on the offensive rather than the defensive he can effectively neutralize his opponent(s?) within a matter of days. His downfall is the fact that his success goes to his head. He takes his stories too far, ending up in trouble at long last at the end. I love what that says about strategy and planning and winning. It's a big idea shrunk down into a little package.
It's funny to think about who the kid readers will root for in this book. On the one hand, Hannah seems mean, picking on Baby Boy all the time and then blaming it on her wayward palms. On the other hand, when he repeatedly casts blame on her that is deeply unfair and kid readers hate unfair things. Then there's the fact that you're in Hannah's head for the whole book. Shouldn't that make you sympathize with her more? Yet being inside her head just makes it so much clearer that she is just justifying her own bad behavior (refusing to discipline Sadie and Ratz might infuriate readers in a whole different way). Though it's only 60 very short pages long, this might be a fascinating title to do in a children's bookgroup. I can see kids debating who the worse villain is here.
Illustrator Ann James turned out to be the absolutely most perfect companion to this tale. You simply could not find anyone better. If there's a streak of darkness to Hartnett's text that streak is echoed (but not amplified) in the accompanying charcoal drawings. Hannah sports a Ramona-worthy do and her hands sound very much like something Ramona would come up with. James then infuses them with a strange terrifying power. They're just the hands of a child but the shadows they cast give them a dangerous quality. Baby Boy is perfectly presented as well. When he wishes to he can look as sweet and innocent as a newborn foal. And when he screams his entire face scrunches up until you can practically see his voice split the page and reverberate across a room.
Alas, alack the book cannot win a big American award like the Newbery since Sadie and Ratz is a 2008 import from what I believe to be Australia. Doggone it. This doesn't entirely surprise me since the sheer initial peculiarity of the story doesn't feel like it was born out of the old U.S. of A. Not that it feels particularly Australian either, though. In the end there's something simultaneously unique and yet universal about the story Harnett is telling. It also ends up being one of the more interesting anti-bullying books as well. You wouldn't necessarily want your kid to adopt Baby Boy's technique in standing up to Hannah, but kids will at least appreciate that he uses his brains to defeat her (admittedly with the help of his own hands). A beautiful bit of psychology that will undoubtedly lead to great discussions. Don't miss it.
For ages 7-10.
Hannah likes lots of things like ponies and stroking her mom's hair. She also likes her hands which she has named Sadie and Ratz. Unlike Hannah, Sadie and Ratz are wild beasts. They like to scrunch and twist and scratch things. Unfortunately for everyone, what they like to scrunch and twist the most is Baby Boy, Hannah's naughty little 4-year-old brother. She feels it's the only way to keep him in line, and so she's utterly unprepared the day he turns the tables on her. One moment he's drawing on the wall and the next he's ratting out Sadie and Ratz for his crime. Suddenly Sadie is reconsidering the wisdom of punishing him every time he fingers her for a new crime (which only gets HER in trouble). Still, when Baby Boy pushes his luck and goes too far, Hannah realizes that she may have more in common with her little brother than she ever expected.
So I'm going to go out on a limb here and compare this to Where the Wild Things Are. I acknowledge that to do so is relatively crazy. I mean, Sendak's classic is considered the pinnacle of modern children's literature. To compare any book to it is to do that title a disservice. All that understood, hear me out. I breathe these two books in one breath because at its heart Sadie and Ratz does something I think Mr. Sendak would appreciate. There's this strange dark undercurrent to your average everyday child. A streak in them that understands jealousy and cruelty and that is simultaneously attracted and repelled by the children in books who exhibit those same qualities. Max in WTWTA embraces his worst aspects at the story's beginning, is punished, and then builds his own world where he has the power. Hannah is similarly punished when she gives in to her darkest feelings but her fantasy lies not with another world but within her own body. There's so much going on in the scene where she stares at Sadie and Ratz imagining that to tame them (paging The Little Prince) would be to break their hearts. There is also a deep and abiding darkness to the book that delves into places that a less honest short novel wouldn't tread. Hannah's torture of her little brother clearly gives rise to his own naughtiness, a fact she celebrates at the story's end. And one can't help but think when they encounter the twist on the last page kids will find it interesting and amusing while parents (identifying with Hannah's) will groan a little in worry.
I also think kids will identify with the weirder ideas in this book even if they don't quite understand them. At one point Hannah sends Sadie and Ratz "on vacation", though her hands themselves are clearly still attached to her wrists. She also describes their talents and dreams. In one part that I particularly liked Hannah says "When Sadie grows up, she wants to be a dragon. When Ratz grows up, he wants to be a bigger Ratz." That sort of blew my mind a little bit. Hartnett's writing is incredibly simple but somehow manages to use only a few words to convey a rich and complex little tale. Would that more shared her talent.
There's an off-kilter sophistication to Baby Boy's retaliation too. It's on a small scale but in many ways this is a look at a war. Baby Boy has always been weaker than Hannah, and there's no way he could physically fight back against Sadie and Ratz. It's almost an inspired bit of 4-year-old genius that he realizes that if he goes on the offensive rather than the defensive he can effectively neutralize his opponent(s?) within a matter of days. His downfall is the fact that his success goes to his head. He takes his stories too far, ending up in trouble at long last at the end. I love what that says about strategy and planning and winning. It's a big idea shrunk down into a little package.
It's funny to think about who the kid readers will root for in this book. On the one hand, Hannah seems mean, picking on Baby Boy all the time and then blaming it on her wayward palms. On the other hand, when he repeatedly casts blame on her that is deeply unfair and kid readers hate unfair things. Then there's the fact that you're in Hannah's head for the whole book. Shouldn't that make you sympathize with her more? Yet being inside her head just makes it so much clearer that she is just justifying her own bad behavior (refusing to discipline Sadie and Ratz might infuriate readers in a whole different way). Though it's only 60 very short pages long, this might be a fascinating title to do in a children's bookgroup. I can see kids debating who the worse villain is here.
Illustrator Ann James turned out to be the absolutely most perfect companion to this tale. You simply could not find anyone better. If there's a streak of darkness to Hartnett's text that streak is echoed (but not amplified) in the accompanying charcoal drawings. Hannah sports a Ramona-worthy do and her hands sound very much like something Ramona would come up with. James then infuses them with a strange terrifying power. They're just the hands of a child but the shadows they cast give them a dangerous quality. Baby Boy is perfectly presented as well. When he wishes to he can look as sweet and innocent as a newborn foal. And when he screams his entire face scrunches up until you can practically see his voice split the page and reverberate across a room.
Alas, alack the book cannot win a big American award like the Newbery since Sadie and Ratz is a 2008 import from what I believe to be Australia. Doggone it. This doesn't entirely surprise me since the sheer initial peculiarity of the story doesn't feel like it was born out of the old U.S. of A. Not that it feels particularly Australian either, though. In the end there's something simultaneously unique and yet universal about the story Harnett is telling. It also ends up being one of the more interesting anti-bullying books as well. You wouldn't necessarily want your kid to adopt Baby Boy's technique in standing up to Hannah, but kids will at least appreciate that he uses his brains to defeat her (admittedly with the help of his own hands). A beautiful bit of psychology that will undoubtedly lead to great discussions. Don't miss it.
For ages 7-10.
March 15, 2012
This is one of the best written and most sophisticated early readers I have ever read. Hannah is a little girl who projects her anger, frustrations, and inclinations for mischief on Sadie and Ratz, the names she gives to her hands which are "wild beasts." I am awed by Hartnett's remarkable ability to so perfectly capture a young child's imagination and perspective. Ann James's striking illustrations are also notable.
September 12, 2012
I am number four.
My parents had five kids; four of them six years apart. I have pulled the curtain on certain parts of my childhood such as when my older brothers tried suffocating me at the bottom of my bed in my bedsheets, or bamboozled me out of my Halloween candy, or broke my bed and pinned the blame on me. Yes, when we were wee ones, we had moments (gasp),when we were piranhas. And because I was the youngest, it took me awhile to figure out how to fight back. But I learned. I fought verbally and physically. The war of sibling rivalry raged fiercely at times as we learned to get along. Children's picture books touch on sibling rivalry, but they don't tackle it quite like this book does with its wonderful metaphor and revealing power struggle between the sneaky, clever siblings of Hannah and her baby brother.
Hannah tells this tale. She explains that her two hands named, Sadie and Ratz, can be wild beasts. Sadie is the bossy one and Ratz does whatever Sadie tells him to do. We then find out she has a younger 4-year-old brother that she calls, Baby Boy, whom she wishes was a dog, and gets angry with when he takes her things or changes the TV channel. When this happens then Sadie and Ratz wake up and rub Baby Boy's ears until he screams like a banshee bull. Then Baby Boy lets Hannah see what it is like to get picked on when he cleverly blames Sadie and Ratz for something he did. Hannah doesn't like this one bit. She even sends Sadie and Ratz on vacation. But Baby Boy goes too far in a surprise ending.
Okay, I confess. I was secretly delighted with Baby Boy's retaliation. And yes, I did the same thing, getting my older brother blamed for things that I did. And he did the same thing to me. We fooled Mom and Dad sometimes. And sometimes we didn't. Sadie's hands as a metaphor of her as the bossy older sister who controls her brother is quite brilliant. Some Goodreads reviewers say the book is too dark and maybe it is for really young kids (I think they will like it in the same vein that they like Junie B. Jones) and while I don't think most youngsters will understand the hidden layers, I do think grades 3-5 will understand the deeper concepts and be able to discuss it.
Sonya Hartnett's word choices are delicious - I took the word piranhas from her story. She is a master when it comes to putting sentences together with great characters, pacing, and rhythm. This is the second book of hers that I have read and it is always a treat to see how she crafts a book. I was surprised when I first got this book because it looks like an early reader; however, one can delve into more complex themes with older students. Even though it is an easy, quick read (blargh - this review took me longer to write than read the book), don't be fooled because it's for all ages. Professional reviewer, Elizabeth Bird, has an excellent review on this book and covers more themes that can be used for home, class or book club discussions. I recommend reading her review.
This book won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2008 and it is easy to see why. The charcoal illustrations by Ann James enrich the text with the expressive faces of Hannah and Baby Boy. I love the pages with him screaming like a wild thing and Hannah contemplating what to do when he starts to get her back. The movement and mood is captured in the thick and thin charcoal strokes reflecting the characters and plot.
Even though we fought as youngsters, when I got older, my brothers did look out for me. Yes, we did figure out how to get along. Now I'm married and have a family. Except I didn't have five kids like my parents. I had one child.
That's right, one. Hmmm.
Reading Level 2.3
My parents had five kids; four of them six years apart. I have pulled the curtain on certain parts of my childhood such as when my older brothers tried suffocating me at the bottom of my bed in my bedsheets, or bamboozled me out of my Halloween candy, or broke my bed and pinned the blame on me. Yes, when we were wee ones, we had moments (gasp),when we were piranhas. And because I was the youngest, it took me awhile to figure out how to fight back. But I learned. I fought verbally and physically. The war of sibling rivalry raged fiercely at times as we learned to get along. Children's picture books touch on sibling rivalry, but they don't tackle it quite like this book does with its wonderful metaphor and revealing power struggle between the sneaky, clever siblings of Hannah and her baby brother.
Hannah tells this tale. She explains that her two hands named, Sadie and Ratz, can be wild beasts. Sadie is the bossy one and Ratz does whatever Sadie tells him to do. We then find out she has a younger 4-year-old brother that she calls, Baby Boy, whom she wishes was a dog, and gets angry with when he takes her things or changes the TV channel. When this happens then Sadie and Ratz wake up and rub Baby Boy's ears until he screams like a banshee bull. Then Baby Boy lets Hannah see what it is like to get picked on when he cleverly blames Sadie and Ratz for something he did. Hannah doesn't like this one bit. She even sends Sadie and Ratz on vacation. But Baby Boy goes too far in a surprise ending.
Okay, I confess. I was secretly delighted with Baby Boy's retaliation. And yes, I did the same thing, getting my older brother blamed for things that I did. And he did the same thing to me. We fooled Mom and Dad sometimes. And sometimes we didn't. Sadie's hands as a metaphor of her as the bossy older sister who controls her brother is quite brilliant. Some Goodreads reviewers say the book is too dark and maybe it is for really young kids (I think they will like it in the same vein that they like Junie B. Jones) and while I don't think most youngsters will understand the hidden layers, I do think grades 3-5 will understand the deeper concepts and be able to discuss it.
Sonya Hartnett's word choices are delicious - I took the word piranhas from her story. She is a master when it comes to putting sentences together with great characters, pacing, and rhythm. This is the second book of hers that I have read and it is always a treat to see how she crafts a book. I was surprised when I first got this book because it looks like an early reader; however, one can delve into more complex themes with older students. Even though it is an easy, quick read (blargh - this review took me longer to write than read the book), don't be fooled because it's for all ages. Professional reviewer, Elizabeth Bird, has an excellent review on this book and covers more themes that can be used for home, class or book club discussions. I recommend reading her review.
This book won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2008 and it is easy to see why. The charcoal illustrations by Ann James enrich the text with the expressive faces of Hannah and Baby Boy. I love the pages with him screaming like a wild thing and Hannah contemplating what to do when he starts to get her back. The movement and mood is captured in the thick and thin charcoal strokes reflecting the characters and plot.
Even though we fought as youngsters, when I got older, my brothers did look out for me. Yes, we did figure out how to get along. Now I'm married and have a family. Except I didn't have five kids like my parents. I had one child.
That's right, one. Hmmm.
Reading Level 2.3
April 5, 2012
Hannah's hands, Sadie and Ratz, have minds of their own and often make poor decisions. Their favorite activity is torturing Hannah's little brother, Baby Boy.
When Sadie and Ratz are blamed for things they didn't do, Hannah has to make a decision.
An excellent, darkly funny book about taking responsibility and the contentious relationships between siblings.
When Sadie and Ratz are blamed for things they didn't do, Hannah has to make a decision.
An excellent, darkly funny book about taking responsibility and the contentious relationships between siblings.
June 14, 2012
Why, yes, I've had the attention span of a gnat lately, and a Beginning Reader book is about my speed.
Picked this up because I love this author and wanted to see what she did with the younger format. Turns out, what she did is exactly what I should have expected--a realistic story that highlights something that's both common and dark; in this case, creating what is essentially a pair of imaginary friends (her hands) through which she can act out her frustrations and vent her childish anger. She has particular trouble dealing with her little brother and the attention he gets, so he takes the brunt of Sadie's and Ratz's rage.
It's not my favorite of her books (that's probably either The Ghost's Child or What the Birds See), it still has her usual sense of how things truly are for kids, not how we wish they would be. (I'm reminded of a line from My So-Called Life, about how "the yearbook isn't a book of what really happened; it's a book about what we wish had happened. Because if you made a book of what really happened, it would be a really depressing book." And that's a great way to sum up most of Hartnett's writing.)
Picked this up because I love this author and wanted to see what she did with the younger format. Turns out, what she did is exactly what I should have expected--a realistic story that highlights something that's both common and dark; in this case, creating what is essentially a pair of imaginary friends (her hands) through which she can act out her frustrations and vent her childish anger. She has particular trouble dealing with her little brother and the attention he gets, so he takes the brunt of Sadie's and Ratz's rage.
It's not my favorite of her books (that's probably either The Ghost's Child or What the Birds See), it still has her usual sense of how things truly are for kids, not how we wish they would be. (I'm reminded of a line from My So-Called Life, about how "the yearbook isn't a book of what really happened; it's a book about what we wish had happened. Because if you made a book of what really happened, it would be a really depressing book." And that's a great way to sum up most of Hartnett's writing.)
April 7, 2012
Although in many respects this is a strange little book, I find it intriguing for its subject matter and for its characters. Hannah has two hands that seem to operate without her permission at times. She has named them Sadie and Ratz, and they enjoy "crunching squishing squeezing" (p. 6) and doing things that get Hannah in trouble. Sadie and Ratz are particularly skilled in keeping Hannah's younger brother in line until one day he retaliates. At first no one thinks the sweet-tempered four-year-old could be to blame for spilled milk, marks on the walls or a stick insect minus one leg. But it turns out that mischevious hands run in the family. While I enjoyed Hannah's personality and introspection and the lovely charcoal drawings used in the book, I certainly would hate to be a member of this family. The author has described sibling rivalry perfectly, however. Sometimes it is more fun to misbehave or have someone else misbehave than it is to follow the rules.
February 13, 2019
I translated this one to Portuguese just out of fun. A gorgeous, terrific little book.
Read
December 14, 2012This is unusual in easy readers in that it is both a shade darker and a bit more honest about sibling relationships than anything else I've seen. The black and white illustrations are great at conveying the mood of a girl with mixed feelings about her brother who is not quite ready to accept responsibility for all the things her hands feel like doing. Brilliant!
April 5, 2012
Wonderful interplay of text and illustrations. Looking forward to reading this with some students and getting their reactions. Best thing? It's an early chapter book you'll want to read again and again, thinking about it more each time.
December 28, 2017
Early readers and transitional chapter books for new readers aren’t the most fun to read generally. This however is spot on.
April 9, 2018
"Sadie and Ratz" is a transitional book written by Sonya Hartnett that tells the story of Hannah, her hands, and her family. Hannah is a young girl who dreams of one day having a dog, but her parents say that she is too young. Until she gets older she is only allowed to have her stick bug and her hands, Sadie and Ratz. Sadie and Ratz do some crazy things and often times get blame for a lot of stuff that they did not do. Hannah's baby brother begins to make Hannah's life really hard when he learns to blame everything on Sadie and Ratz. In order to prove their innocence Hannah must send Sadie and Ratz on a "vacation." She does not like being without them, but she knows that this is what needs to be done. In the end, she proves to her parents that baby boy is not so innocent, and that Sadie and Ratz are not so bad after all.
Even though this book is a transitional book it still has some illustrations in it. The illustrations are black and white drawings done by Ann James. They are not on every page but the pages that they are on they are done very well and help convey the story. They show all the emotions very well. I also think that the fun font and the different ways the words are written is very catchy and young readers will love it. I would recommend this book for 2nd and 3rd graders.
Even though this book is a transitional book it still has some illustrations in it. The illustrations are black and white drawings done by Ann James. They are not on every page but the pages that they are on they are done very well and help convey the story. They show all the emotions very well. I also think that the fun font and the different ways the words are written is very catchy and young readers will love it. I would recommend this book for 2nd and 3rd graders.
December 14, 2018
Not sure what to think about this book; Sadie and Ratz are the main character's hands. They can be mean, and they take out their anger on Baby Boy, a 4-year-old who blames them for mishaps around the house like marker on the wall, spilled milk, and a missing leg on a pet stick insect. There is no real resolution except that Baby Boy's hands, Colin and Scraps, are uncovered as the culprit when a clock is smashed. Thoughtful readers will see how children can get pegged as "bad kids" and "good kids" who then are given the benefit of the doubt or not in certain situations. Some children are able to deal with their impulses and violent feelings better by holding them at a certain distance (like Sadie and Ratz); Hannah takes responsibility for controlling them, thinking it might be time for them to have a vacation (despite the hands still being attached to her body, the characters leave).
December 23, 2019
A clever short chapter book about sibling conflict and relationships. Hannah and her two "wild beast" hands, which she calls Sadie and Ratz, learn there is more to Baby Boy than meets the eye. At first, Hannah wishes her little brother was a dog. But when Hannah figures out that Baby Boy is crafty despite his young age and his "good boy" reputation, he earns Hannah's respect and admiration. Very creative and representative of true human nature. Children will see themselves in these timeless sibling clashes and schemes, presented in an original way. The illustrations add to the story and deepen characterization.
July 23, 2021
This is a three chapter book.
Sadie and Ratz are the names of a little girl's hands. This story is in Hannah's voice as she tells about the trouble her hands can cause - in Chapter 1.
Chapter 2 - Hannah gets into trouble for things she didn't do because her baby brother said Sadie and Ratz did them. Hannah worries that her hands would have to start being nice.
Chapter 3 - Strange things begin happening, Hannah gets the blame until is is understood by her parents that she wasn't even home when some things occurred.
Surprise ending. Cute story with delightful black and white illustrations.
Sadie and Ratz are the names of a little girl's hands. This story is in Hannah's voice as she tells about the trouble her hands can cause - in Chapter 1.
Chapter 2 - Hannah gets into trouble for things she didn't do because her baby brother said Sadie and Ratz did them. Hannah worries that her hands would have to start being nice.
Chapter 3 - Strange things begin happening, Hannah gets the blame until is is understood by her parents that she wasn't even home when some things occurred.
Surprise ending. Cute story with delightful black and white illustrations.
February 7, 2018
Someone on worldliteratureforum recommended Hartnett, so I grabbed this book from my local library. Wonderful. Immersive prose details the tale of Hannah's hands, Sadie and Ratz, which behave like wild beasts when her baby brother is around. Baby brother's hands are beasts too, and when he blames Hannah for his misdeeds, Hannah is forced to put Sadie and Ratz in hiatus in order to expose him. Evocative, even without the amazing illustrations, which have an ostensibly simple quality that reveals a complex emotional intelligence and a very convincing picture of family life.
October 9, 2019
Ratz and Sadie get Hannah in trouble sometimes. They are a little rambunctious. When they start getting blamed for things they didn't do, Hannah has to figure out the best way to rectify this situation.
I liked the story, but it just didn't grab me. I know this is a favorite of a lot of people but it was just ok for me.
I liked the story, but it just didn't grab me. I know this is a favorite of a lot of people but it was just ok for me.
May 2, 2024
A reluctant four stars, for this is fun to read - if not at all to live through. It's a wee mystery of bad behaviour, which never once tries to discourage it, even if it does seem to angle towards fairness by the end. If you think books should try and stamp out kids doing brattish things, the way they're represented here won't make you like this whatsoever.
January 20, 2021
Kind of dark....her hands misbehave and she doesn't seem to take responsibility for what happens. Also, a lot of sibling rivalry stuff. Kind of a weird story. People I admire that I'm connected to on Goodreads gave it a pretty high rating. I don't really get it.
July 3, 2017
Liked his very much and could add it to my list of books about siblings.
January 20, 2019
This is a story about sibling relationships, and how hard it is when you get the blame for something you didn't do! A great easy read for children that they will be easily able to relate to.
August 13, 2023
This is funny and a little unnerving, and even though I would have disliked it as a child and judged the characters for their bad behavior, I found it humorous as an adult.
March 14, 2017
This was a very fun read in my opinion it was very great book. Sadie and Ratz is told by the viewpoint of young Hannah as she tells the story of her family and her friends Sadie and Ratz who are *spoilers* her hands. She constantly talks to and humanizes her hands in a very comedic way and boy are they mischievous. It was very funny when Hannah's parents supported Hannah talking with her hands ;and it was interesting how they helped bring Sadie and Ratz to "life" by showing her how to make hand gestures. The art was very good I liked the character drawings alot and the artists use of black to portray character emotions .Sadie and Ratz is a fun little book that parents whose kids with their own set of "Sadie and Ratz's" can have a fun laugh to.
December 19, 2016
Hannah has named her hands Sadie and Ratz and assigned each one a personality in order to explain the way she sometimes lashes out at her little brother. Until now, Baby Boy has been too young to really understand this concept, but in this story he wises up. He starts blaming things on Sadie and Ratz (and therefore on Hannah) when really, he is at fault. It’s only after Sadie and Ratz take a vacation that Baby Boy’s own hands’ personalities start to come out.
When I was a kid, I named my own feet - Ootie and Bootie - so I was drawn to this book immediately, realizing that Hannah is a kindred spirit. I was instantly charmed by the tone of the story, which is very gentle despite the fact that it’s really all about anger. Though Hannah obviously gets very frustrated with her brother and hurts him, the book really focuses on trying to find constructive ways to channel those feelings. I also love the fact that the little brother has so much personality - he’s not just a random little kid thrown in as a plot device. The author develops him just as well as she develops Hannah, which makes the ending that much more satisfying.
This is a very early chapter book, and it fits well with the Mercy Watson, Katie Woo, and Nate the Great series, which really fill the gap between easy readers and chapter books quite well. There are very few words used in the story that can’t be sounded out. Naughty is one that caught my eye, and peculiar might be tricky for a reader who’d never seen it before, but otherwise, a new reader can decode everything in this story on his or her own.
The illustrations are also wide-spread throughout the book’s 60 pages, and they give great visual clues about what everyone is doing, thinking, and feeling at key points in the plot. Two images in particular really stuck with me. One is the portrait of a bawling Baby Boy on page 27, where his face is scrunched up and his mouth is open and ready to holler. The other is the drawing of Grandma and Baby Boy on pages 29 and 30, after she gives him a cookie. The look on the grandmother’s face is just so realistic, and I didn’t even need to read the text to know what she might be saying in that scene.
The book jacket notes that Hannah is the author’s niece, who actually did name her hands at the age of two. I love knowing that stories like this come from real life, and I’m sure the inspiration for the story is part of the reason it seems so plausible and the characters so three-dimensional. Sadie and Ratz was originally published in Australia in 2008. I’m very glad Candlewick published it in the US so American kids could enjoy its unique approach to storytelling, and its sensitive treatment of childhood anger
Other recommended reads on this subject for kids at this reading level might include When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang and Nina in That Makes Me Mad by Hilary Knight.
When I was a kid, I named my own feet - Ootie and Bootie - so I was drawn to this book immediately, realizing that Hannah is a kindred spirit. I was instantly charmed by the tone of the story, which is very gentle despite the fact that it’s really all about anger. Though Hannah obviously gets very frustrated with her brother and hurts him, the book really focuses on trying to find constructive ways to channel those feelings. I also love the fact that the little brother has so much personality - he’s not just a random little kid thrown in as a plot device. The author develops him just as well as she develops Hannah, which makes the ending that much more satisfying.
This is a very early chapter book, and it fits well with the Mercy Watson, Katie Woo, and Nate the Great series, which really fill the gap between easy readers and chapter books quite well. There are very few words used in the story that can’t be sounded out. Naughty is one that caught my eye, and peculiar might be tricky for a reader who’d never seen it before, but otherwise, a new reader can decode everything in this story on his or her own.
The illustrations are also wide-spread throughout the book’s 60 pages, and they give great visual clues about what everyone is doing, thinking, and feeling at key points in the plot. Two images in particular really stuck with me. One is the portrait of a bawling Baby Boy on page 27, where his face is scrunched up and his mouth is open and ready to holler. The other is the drawing of Grandma and Baby Boy on pages 29 and 30, after she gives him a cookie. The look on the grandmother’s face is just so realistic, and I didn’t even need to read the text to know what she might be saying in that scene.
The book jacket notes that Hannah is the author’s niece, who actually did name her hands at the age of two. I love knowing that stories like this come from real life, and I’m sure the inspiration for the story is part of the reason it seems so plausible and the characters so three-dimensional. Sadie and Ratz was originally published in Australia in 2008. I’m very glad Candlewick published it in the US so American kids could enjoy its unique approach to storytelling, and its sensitive treatment of childhood anger
Other recommended reads on this subject for kids at this reading level might include When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang and Nina in That Makes Me Mad by Hilary Knight.
October 28, 2013
I thought this was a wonderful charming book which would appeal to beginning readers transitioning to chapter books. I must also say it’s one of my favorite among the books we’ve read so far.
The gorgeous evocative charcoal drawings beautifully illustrate the main scenes in the book and also do a good job of conveying emotion, something that is harder for kids to understand from words alone. The story of a girl, Hannah, who has named her hands Sadie and Ratz and who sometimes loses control of them, is one which many a child struggling with self-control can relate to. The fact that her parents suggest Sadie and Ratz try yoga is indicative of the humor and gentleness in the book. It’s also a great parenting tip!
Hannah’s main problem seems to be her younger brother, referred to in the book as Baby Boy. The three chapters describe how Hannah keeps getting in trouble for things that she insists neither she, Sadie nor Ratz did. Being unjustly accused is certainly something any child with a sibling can relate to. Hannah reacts by wanting to rub out Baby Boy’s ears and by sneaking into his room so that Sadie and Ratz can attack.
Jealousy is another theme with which the book deals. Hannah never uses the word but it’s clear she’s jealous when Grandma gives Baby Boy kisses and extra cookies. A lot of kids feel this way about siblings, especially younger ones.
One thing I really liked about this book was the realistic way it dealt with how kids view their own actions. Hannah disassociates her badness by naming her hands and blaming them. This seems like a creative way for a child to cope with the fact that she’s not always good. Since it’s difficult for children to admit when they are wrong, externalizing one’s badness by projecting it onto something else is one way to still keep a positive self-image. It’s clear, however, that Hannah knows that Sadie and Ratz are still a part of her. At the beginning of the book she lists the things she likes and the things she does when she is kind. I think this shows self-knowledge.
The vocabulary in this book was quite interesting. This book introduces a lot of words that would be challenging such as rampage, wobble, banshee, and strife. These are probably words that many children don’t hear or use in everyday life. Other words such as happened and vacation are not beginning vocabulary words but would be familiar to kids from everyday speech. The use of different style fonts and formatting are effective ways to emphasize certain parts of the text.
A child reading this book would like that Baby Boy gets his comeuppance at the end, and the final page in which Baby Boy decides to name his own hands is a fitting end to Hannah’s humorous tale.
This book would make a great library or school read aloud as well as a lovely book for a boy or girl transitioning to chapter books.
The gorgeous evocative charcoal drawings beautifully illustrate the main scenes in the book and also do a good job of conveying emotion, something that is harder for kids to understand from words alone. The story of a girl, Hannah, who has named her hands Sadie and Ratz and who sometimes loses control of them, is one which many a child struggling with self-control can relate to. The fact that her parents suggest Sadie and Ratz try yoga is indicative of the humor and gentleness in the book. It’s also a great parenting tip!
Hannah’s main problem seems to be her younger brother, referred to in the book as Baby Boy. The three chapters describe how Hannah keeps getting in trouble for things that she insists neither she, Sadie nor Ratz did. Being unjustly accused is certainly something any child with a sibling can relate to. Hannah reacts by wanting to rub out Baby Boy’s ears and by sneaking into his room so that Sadie and Ratz can attack.
Jealousy is another theme with which the book deals. Hannah never uses the word but it’s clear she’s jealous when Grandma gives Baby Boy kisses and extra cookies. A lot of kids feel this way about siblings, especially younger ones.
One thing I really liked about this book was the realistic way it dealt with how kids view their own actions. Hannah disassociates her badness by naming her hands and blaming them. This seems like a creative way for a child to cope with the fact that she’s not always good. Since it’s difficult for children to admit when they are wrong, externalizing one’s badness by projecting it onto something else is one way to still keep a positive self-image. It’s clear, however, that Hannah knows that Sadie and Ratz are still a part of her. At the beginning of the book she lists the things she likes and the things she does when she is kind. I think this shows self-knowledge.
The vocabulary in this book was quite interesting. This book introduces a lot of words that would be challenging such as rampage, wobble, banshee, and strife. These are probably words that many children don’t hear or use in everyday life. Other words such as happened and vacation are not beginning vocabulary words but would be familiar to kids from everyday speech. The use of different style fonts and formatting are effective ways to emphasize certain parts of the text.
A child reading this book would like that Baby Boy gets his comeuppance at the end, and the final page in which Baby Boy decides to name his own hands is a fitting end to Hannah’s humorous tale.
This book would make a great library or school read aloud as well as a lovely book for a boy or girl transitioning to chapter books.
August 2, 2013
Hartnett, S., & James, A. (2012). Sadie and Ratz. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Summary: Little Hannah has discovered the brilliance of using her hands for puppets, even going as far as to name them Sadie and Ratz. Hannah gets into trouble when Sadie and Ratz "act up" and retaliate against her younger brother who is always picking on her. Until one day, the little brother's antics catch up to him and Hannah isn't the one in trouble anymore.
Review: Kirkus Reviews starred (January 15, 2012)
Sadie and Ratz, Hannah's menacing hands, help her to handle her sibling rivalry in this piercingly intelligent foray into chapter books by much-awarded teen author Hartnett. Hannah lives with her parents and her stick insect, Pin. She would like to have a real pet, but all she has is the disappointing Baby Boy, who is the object of Sadie and Ratz's anger. When he does the things little brothers do (going into her room, changing the channel or using markers), Sadie and Ratz wake up, jump onto Baby Boy's head and rub his ears off. One day, the game is changed when Baby Boy starts acting like a crafty 4-year-old. He spills milk, writes on the wall and breaks a valuable timepiece but blames everything on his sister's naughty hands. When Pin is found missing a leg after Hannah sends her hands on vacation, the parents start to see the truth. The tale is accompanied by warm, expressive gestural charcoal drawings on every page that add much to the story, drawing readers' eyes to the characters' real feelings. Ending on the hopeful note that Baby Boy's hands and Hannah's hands are going to be friends, this is one story of sibling rivalry that seems realistic. The kids might not be friends, but their naughty hands can be! For big sisters and Baby Boys adjusting to each other. A real slice of family life, the sweet with the bitter.
Curriculum Connection: This would be a great selection to use to teach primary students the importance of being responsible for your actions. It could be a part of character education or simply a book that is read aloud to students right before lunch.
Diversity: Sonya Hartnett, the book's author, is an internationally-recognized author from Australia.
Genre: Fiction
Age: Primary grades
Summary: Little Hannah has discovered the brilliance of using her hands for puppets, even going as far as to name them Sadie and Ratz. Hannah gets into trouble when Sadie and Ratz "act up" and retaliate against her younger brother who is always picking on her. Until one day, the little brother's antics catch up to him and Hannah isn't the one in trouble anymore.
Review: Kirkus Reviews starred (January 15, 2012)
Sadie and Ratz, Hannah's menacing hands, help her to handle her sibling rivalry in this piercingly intelligent foray into chapter books by much-awarded teen author Hartnett. Hannah lives with her parents and her stick insect, Pin. She would like to have a real pet, but all she has is the disappointing Baby Boy, who is the object of Sadie and Ratz's anger. When he does the things little brothers do (going into her room, changing the channel or using markers), Sadie and Ratz wake up, jump onto Baby Boy's head and rub his ears off. One day, the game is changed when Baby Boy starts acting like a crafty 4-year-old. He spills milk, writes on the wall and breaks a valuable timepiece but blames everything on his sister's naughty hands. When Pin is found missing a leg after Hannah sends her hands on vacation, the parents start to see the truth. The tale is accompanied by warm, expressive gestural charcoal drawings on every page that add much to the story, drawing readers' eyes to the characters' real feelings. Ending on the hopeful note that Baby Boy's hands and Hannah's hands are going to be friends, this is one story of sibling rivalry that seems realistic. The kids might not be friends, but their naughty hands can be! For big sisters and Baby Boys adjusting to each other. A real slice of family life, the sweet with the bitter.
Curriculum Connection: This would be a great selection to use to teach primary students the importance of being responsible for your actions. It could be a part of character education or simply a book that is read aloud to students right before lunch.
Diversity: Sonya Hartnett, the book's author, is an internationally-recognized author from Australia.
Genre: Fiction
Age: Primary grades
November 16, 2012
As posted on Outside of a Dog:
I’ve mentioned before how hard I think it must be to write a satisfying early chapter book. It’s so easy to fall into the traps of talking above children’s heads, or talking down to them, or simply equated easy with boring (hello, Dick and Jane). That’s why it’s so rewarding to have a book like Sonya Hartnett’s Sadie and Ratz. Here is a book that is right on a child’s level, and is wonderful and strange and just a little bit subversive. My kind of book.
Young Hannah has named her hands Sadie and Ratz. Sadie and Ratz are “wild beasts” according to Dad. Indeed, they enjoy “crunching”,“squishing” and “squeezing”. One thing Hannah, Sadie and Ratz do not enjoy, is Baby Boy, whom Hannah wishes were a dog instead of a baby brother. Sadie and Ratz do enjoy torturing Baby Boy, however, when he gets in the way, by jumping on his head and trying to rub his ears off. Naturally, Baby Boy is not very fond of Sadie and Ratz. When not-so-nice things begin happening around the house, and Sadie and Ratz get the blame, Hannah starts to reassess her brother. “[H]e was crafty.” This all leads to an unexpected but glorious conclusion.
Sadie and Ratz clocks in at a slim 60 pages, but there’s nothing simple about what Hartnett and illustrator Ann James have done here. Hannah and her hands, like Sendak’s Max before her, represent the wild thing in all of us, which when we’re children (and for some unfortunate adults) can truly be an uncontrollable force. Children will instantly understand the concept of Hannah’s hands, the personalities of each hand (“When Sadie grows up, she wants to be a dragon. When Ratz grows up, he wants to be a bigger Ratz.”) and will love the sneaky glee of the “twist” ending. Early chapter books are hard to do well, but Hartnett and James have pulled off a near perfect book. It’s a perfect stepping stone for Ramona, as Hannah is clearly her cultural descendant.
I’ve mentioned before how hard I think it must be to write a satisfying early chapter book. It’s so easy to fall into the traps of talking above children’s heads, or talking down to them, or simply equated easy with boring (hello, Dick and Jane). That’s why it’s so rewarding to have a book like Sonya Hartnett’s Sadie and Ratz. Here is a book that is right on a child’s level, and is wonderful and strange and just a little bit subversive. My kind of book.
Young Hannah has named her hands Sadie and Ratz. Sadie and Ratz are “wild beasts” according to Dad. Indeed, they enjoy “crunching”,“squishing” and “squeezing”. One thing Hannah, Sadie and Ratz do not enjoy, is Baby Boy, whom Hannah wishes were a dog instead of a baby brother. Sadie and Ratz do enjoy torturing Baby Boy, however, when he gets in the way, by jumping on his head and trying to rub his ears off. Naturally, Baby Boy is not very fond of Sadie and Ratz. When not-so-nice things begin happening around the house, and Sadie and Ratz get the blame, Hannah starts to reassess her brother. “[H]e was crafty.” This all leads to an unexpected but glorious conclusion.
Sadie and Ratz clocks in at a slim 60 pages, but there’s nothing simple about what Hartnett and illustrator Ann James have done here. Hannah and her hands, like Sendak’s Max before her, represent the wild thing in all of us, which when we’re children (and for some unfortunate adults) can truly be an uncontrollable force. Children will instantly understand the concept of Hannah’s hands, the personalities of each hand (“When Sadie grows up, she wants to be a dragon. When Ratz grows up, he wants to be a bigger Ratz.”) and will love the sneaky glee of the “twist” ending. Early chapter books are hard to do well, but Hartnett and James have pulled off a near perfect book. It’s a perfect stepping stone for Ramona, as Hannah is clearly her cultural descendant.
December 24, 2016
This is a humorous tale of imagination and sibling rivalry. The charcoal illustrations are very expressive and really complement the narrative. It's a fun, fast read and will likely appeal to young readers.
April 1, 2014
Hannah is a very imaginative little girl who has named her hands Sadie and Ratz. They’re almost pet like and she can tell you what Sadie and Ratz like to do, what they are good at and how they get into trouble, especially when they come to Hannah’s rescue.
A classic case of sibling rivalry that anyone with a brother or sister will recognize. Hannah describes Sadie and Ratz as wild beasts, and says they act like piranhas. They like to crush things up, twist and scrunch, scratch! scratch! scratch! When Sadie and Ratz are on the rampage, look out! But this is all in retaliation to what her little brother, Baby Boy, does: goes into my room, changes the TV channel, uses all the colored markers. When he does these things, Sadie and Ratz wake up!
Of course they wake up, how could they not? The older sibling’s possessions have been defiled. So Sadie and Ratz assume the position: The Lion’s Mane, The Hammerheads or The Long Lightning Bolts. And they strike and Baby Boy screams like a banshee bull.
Baby Boy is getting older and a little smarter. He realizes what is going on and is learning from his sister. Things start happening and Sadie and Ratz are getting blamed. But not so fast, maybe it’s not Sadie and Ratz this time and maybe Baby Boy isn’t the innocent younger sibling after all.
For a fun story, one that will satisfy the young chapter book reader, Sadie and Ratz does not disappoint. I can see young students reading it a second time and I can see older students doing a quick read and relating to the characters. A great read for elementary students.
A classic case of sibling rivalry that anyone with a brother or sister will recognize. Hannah describes Sadie and Ratz as wild beasts, and says they act like piranhas. They like to crush things up, twist and scrunch, scratch! scratch! scratch! When Sadie and Ratz are on the rampage, look out! But this is all in retaliation to what her little brother, Baby Boy, does: goes into my room, changes the TV channel, uses all the colored markers. When he does these things, Sadie and Ratz wake up!
Of course they wake up, how could they not? The older sibling’s possessions have been defiled. So Sadie and Ratz assume the position: The Lion’s Mane, The Hammerheads or The Long Lightning Bolts. And they strike and Baby Boy screams like a banshee bull.
Baby Boy is getting older and a little smarter. He realizes what is going on and is learning from his sister. Things start happening and Sadie and Ratz are getting blamed. But not so fast, maybe it’s not Sadie and Ratz this time and maybe Baby Boy isn’t the innocent younger sibling after all.
For a fun story, one that will satisfy the young chapter book reader, Sadie and Ratz does not disappoint. I can see young students reading it a second time and I can see older students doing a quick read and relating to the characters. A great read for elementary students.
February 22, 2013
I always wonder how well a piece of realistic fiction will resonate with kids. This one is obviously targeted at a specific problem, the one of not being believed, and being misunderstood. The voice is uncomplicated, and uses some sophisticated vocabulary for the age group--which I think is great. We want kids to know that their thinking has real words. This is targeted at preschool, so it is most likely intended as a read-aloud. But it may be a good chapter book for K-1, too.
The writing did not seem condescending, which is what I look for as the common mistake when a writer is trying to inhabit the mind of a child.
I think this could be a good story for complicating bullying, because the main character does not realize that her own actions may be what is causing the little brother to want to blame Sadie & Ratz for everything that goes wrong. She is the bully, and while things do work out for the best, I don't know that the book is about her 'learning her lesson.'
This book makes me think about Bruno Bettelheim's work, and the idea that specific issues and conflicts may be better explored in fiction, especially with folk and fairy tale material--because we can exaggerate and amplify and even make characters out of the issue. I'm often suspicious of issues-based realistic fiction for this reason. For this one, because the writing did not feel didactic or condescending I felt okay giving it a 3.
The writing did not seem condescending, which is what I look for as the common mistake when a writer is trying to inhabit the mind of a child.
I think this could be a good story for complicating bullying, because the main character does not realize that her own actions may be what is causing the little brother to want to blame Sadie & Ratz for everything that goes wrong. She is the bully, and while things do work out for the best, I don't know that the book is about her 'learning her lesson.'
This book makes me think about Bruno Bettelheim's work, and the idea that specific issues and conflicts may be better explored in fiction, especially with folk and fairy tale material--because we can exaggerate and amplify and even make characters out of the issue. I'm often suspicious of issues-based realistic fiction for this reason. For this one, because the writing did not feel didactic or condescending I felt okay giving it a 3.
March 27, 2013
"That night, Sadie and Ratz wanted to rub Baby Boy's ears, nose, hair and chin right off his head. But I knew that would cause more strife. Baby Boy knew it too. Baby Boy was little, but he was crafty."
Hannah's hands have minds of their own, and when they want to be beastly, they become Sadie and Ratz, who love to crush and rip and smashing things. Baby Boy, Hannah's four year old brother, sees the perfect opportunity to blame Sadie and Ratz for his own mischief around the house. Hannah retires Sadie and Ratz to avoid any false blame, but it turns out Baby Boy's hands are just as naughty.
This is a delightful, unusual little book from Australian author Sonya Hartnett. Imagination BECOMES reality when the concept of hands with minds of their own determine the whole story. Harnett weaves the childhood experience masterfully. The helpless situation of a younger sibling exploiting their own littleness to get away with mischief is a powerful way of setting that stage. Together with its dark, eeriely sweet illustrations, Sadie and Ratz is a delicious, strange, gorgeous little book.
Suggest to: patrons with siblings, who want short chapter books, or books written by foreign authors
Hannah's hands have minds of their own, and when they want to be beastly, they become Sadie and Ratz, who love to crush and rip and smashing things. Baby Boy, Hannah's four year old brother, sees the perfect opportunity to blame Sadie and Ratz for his own mischief around the house. Hannah retires Sadie and Ratz to avoid any false blame, but it turns out Baby Boy's hands are just as naughty.
This is a delightful, unusual little book from Australian author Sonya Hartnett. Imagination BECOMES reality when the concept of hands with minds of their own determine the whole story. Harnett weaves the childhood experience masterfully. The helpless situation of a younger sibling exploiting their own littleness to get away with mischief is a powerful way of setting that stage. Together with its dark, eeriely sweet illustrations, Sadie and Ratz is a delicious, strange, gorgeous little book.
Suggest to: patrons with siblings, who want short chapter books, or books written by foreign authors
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