The Pi-Rats, Vol. 1: Set Sail for Treasure!

Gr 2–Readers follow three rat pirates on two adventures filled with battle scenes and daring escapades. In their first adventure, Captain, Jose, and Miguel meet island-dwelling mice terrified of an evil wizard who kidnaps them for his experiments. Their quest leads to epic battles, mysterious potions, and motivating the local mice to fight for themselves. Afterward, the Pi-Rats continue journeying, eventually fighting and separating after crash-landing on a new island. It seems like the rats will never reconcile, but a series of misadventures involving a cat, sewer crocodile, and competing rat gangs brings them all together again for the climactic battle. While the fast-paced nature of these stories will appeal to some fantasy fans, the translated text often feels disjointed. One scene jumps to the next, sometimes with little clarity on how a problem was solved. The words “mice” and “rats” are used interchangeably throughout the text, making it unclear if the main characters are regularly interacting with other species. While most of the art is typical for fantasy adventure stories, a few illustrations include uncomfortable stereotypes, including the evil wizard’s persona (crooked yellow teeth, long pointed nose, hunchback) and the mysterious sewer rats only seen holding spears and wearing plant-coverings and carved wooden masks.