Amazing Maurice, The

This engaging, funny, mysterious novel has powerful individualized characters. A band of smart, talking rats teams up with Maurice, a conniving cat, and Keith, a boy who plays the flute, in this fresh take on the tale, 'The Pied Piper'. The plot takes an ominous turn when the group tries their scam in the town of Bad Blintz. The story offers a vivid sense of emerging morality that concludes with a triumph of negotiation over violence.