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RatburgerDavid Walliams
Ratburger
by David Walliams
Zoe's pet rat is wanted by the man with the burger van, and her stepmother would be glad to see the back of both of them.
A story about children and a grown-up villain, funny and silly in tone. We would put it with children of 8–11, and at a reading age of about 9 for reading alone.
Worth knowing before you buy
- Cruel adults
None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.
Our take on this book
Zoe's life is grim — a horrible stepmother, a lost pet, a father out of work — and her one comfort is a pet rat, which is exactly what the sinister Burt of Burt's Burgers has his eye on for his next batch of 'meat'. David Walliams serves up his familiar mix of broad comedy, grotesque villains and a genuinely sympathetic, hard-up child at the centre, in the warm-hearted Dahl-ish tradition. Tony Ross's illustrations keep it lively, and the villain and peril are pantomime-broad rather than distressing, with plenty of gross-out humour children love. Underneath the laughs there is real feeling about poverty, loss and an unhappy home, handled lightly. For an eight- to eleven-year-old it is an accessible, funny, fast-moving read with a big heart — the kind of hugely popular story that pulls in reluctant readers with the jokes and the yuck, then quietly makes them root for a child who deserves better.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
Awful AuntieDavid Walliams
Demon DentistDavid Walliams
Dial a GhostEva Ibbotson
Gangsta GrannyDavid Walliams
Mr Gum and the Biscuit BillionaireAndy Stanton
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.