Walter The Story of a Rat

This book is about Walter (a rat) and Amanda Pomeroy (an old lady). Walter doesn't understand why everyone hates him. Walter really wants to make friends with Miss Pomeroy but is not sure how. Every night Walter sneaks into the library and takes one of her books to read but he always returns them before Miss Pomeroy wakes up. Walter is a very smart rat he knows how to read and write but he doesn't consider taking food from her kitchen and reading all her books stealing after all he always returns her books. This is one of my favorite quotes - it's sweet and sad:

From the time he was an adolescent, humans had thrown stones at Walter, shot guns at him, and repeatedly tried to poison him with some strange-smelling food, which he had been wise enough to avoid. They had kicked at him, screamed at him, and once - at the very sight of him - a young woman had fainted. Walter had never been able to understand the horror he and his relatives aroused in humans. These, after all, were the same people who kept hamsters and guinea pigs as pets. The same children who loved white mice. These were the people who fed squirrels in the park and walked tiny dogs on leashes. As far as Walter was concerned, animals were animals - all of them equally important.

If you like sweet books about animals then you should really read this one. And if you want to learn a little bit about rats, you will learn a bit here and here.

Walter The Story of a Rat by Barbra Wersba