The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents: (Discworld Novel 28) (Discworld Novels)

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Break the Cutie: Dangerous Beans dealing with the fact that Mr Bunnsy, a children's book where animals are less animal, is fiction. Talk to the paw, mister, 'cos the whiskers don't want to know" is a take off on comedian Martin Lawrence's 1990s line which became a popular and short lived insult then, "Talk to the hand, because the ears ain't listening" I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents won the Carnegie medal for best children's book published in the UK in 2001, making it Pratchett's first book to win a major award. Malicia, the granddaughter and great neice of the Sisters Grim clearly "inherited the story telling talent". She is convinced that Maurice was probably owned by a witch who lived in a ginger bread cottage in the woods, (Hansel and Gretel from the Brothers Grimm) and that Keith must have been a prince left on a doorstep with a crown and a magical sword (reminiscent of the heir to the Kingdom of Lancre, Tomjon, left with the traveling theatre group as well as Captain Carrot, but also a very common theme in numerous fairy tales ( The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, Thumbelina, the Speaking Bird), legends (Oedipus Rex, Excaliber) and bible stories (Moses found in the bullrushes). She claimed to have two evil step sisters (Cinderella) when she is really an only child..

Darktan's troop are a parody of the military structure of an army. The Light and Heavy Widdlers are a reference to the Light Cavalry and Heavy Horse Regiments which, after the end of the use of horses, became the Light and Heavy Tank Battalions. The rat trap squad is reminiscent of the bomb squads in the London Blitz who disarmed and dismantled the German ordinance that fell on the city during WWII and has many parallels to the British TV series, Danger UBX. This Is My Human: Maurice regards the stupid-looking kid as a necessary prop and an occasionally handy pair of hands. It’s just like crop circles. No matter how many aliens own up to making them, there are always a few diehards who believe that humans go out with garden rollers in the middle of the night—’

This book provides examples of:

Combat Pragmatist: Darktan, especially in the fight against the terrier. In particular, biting its testicles. The book opens with Amazing Maurice (a sentient cat), a group of talking rats (the Clan), and the human boy Keith travelling in a mail coach to a small town called Bad Blintz. The group plans to enact a scheme they have used many times before, where in the rats pretend to infest the town and Keith poses as a rat piper to lead the "vermin" away for a small sum of cash. Although Maurice sees nothing wrong with this hustling business, the rats find it immoral, and convince Maurice that this town will be the last one they rob. Upon arriving in town, the group discovers that the people are convinced of a massive rat infestation, and have spent much of their savings on two rat catchers. Despite their efforts, food continues to disappear from the town. As the rats move into the town's underground, they discover an overwhelmingly large number of rat traps, but no live keekees (rats who cannot talk or think). Aboveground, Maurice makes similar observations, including that many of the rat tails the rat catchers display as proof of their successful hunting are in fact shoelaces. Maurice and Keith meet the mayor's daughter Malicia and introduce her to the talking rats. Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Maurice swears he will never eat prey that can talk, and everyone reassures him they know he won't, but knows he learned to speak by eating one of the intelligent rats (who had a speech impediment). As the novel develops Maurice and the rats develop other human characteristics. Maurice feels guilty about eating Additives and says " Cats don't go around feeling sorry! or guilty! We never regret anything! Do you know what it feels like, saying "Hello food, can you talk? The line, " We never regret anything!" resonates with the song Edith Piaff made famous, Je ne regrette rien - I regret nothing. A movie, available in theaters and streaming on Hulu, directed by Toby Genkel (and starring Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke among others) and called "The Amazing Maurice", was released 5 February 2023 in the USA and Canada.

Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list. BBC Radio 4 broadcast a 90-minute dramatisation in 2003, adapted by Peter Kerry and directed by Chris Wallis, which was repeated on BBC 7 on June 2, 2007 and April 27, 2008. The character of Dangerous Beans was voiced by David Tennant. Darktan's voice was a spoof version of Sean Connery's Scottish burr. The narrator in the adaptation was Maurice himself, describing to Dangerous Beans how they arrived at the perilous situation near the end of the plot. Quotes from Mr. Bunnsy Has an Adventure, which appear as chapter heads in the book, were read by the character Peaches. To mark the occasion of Terry Pratchett's knighthood, it was broadcast on BBC 7 again, along with other dramatisations of his work, in February 2009. The book is funny, but more importantly, characters surprise us with their depth. Darktan, the toolbelt-swathed engineering-wizard rat, has a crisis of faith about his role as a leader. Other rats in his Clan are hammering out rules for ethical living, much to sharpster Maurice's disgust. I expect you’re very keen to know all about me,’ said Malicia. ‘I expect you’re just too polite to ask.’

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They discover a great deal of food stolen by the men and large cages when the local keekees are being bred for coursing.

It's an A-list voice cast saddled with a screenplay that’s just not up to their skill set. “The Amazing Maurice” is also another computer-animated film that never gets visually ambitious enough. Oh, it threatens to do so, with village streets that promise adventure down every alley, but the world-building here is surprisingly weak given the source material and the potential of the story to get weird. It’s almost as if the producers knew they had a bizarre book to adapt but never really embraced the quirkiness of this riff on the Pied Piper. Some of the rats are delightfully bizarre, but the character design is never as adventurous as it should be.The rats then reveal their intelligence to the townspeople and offering to reveal to them where the stolen food and money was located in return for being allowed to live peacefully with them. Keith stays on as the town's piper and the "well-trained rats" become a tourist attraction. Maurice, however, moves on, looking for another human to "coach". The voice of the King Rat in the walls and inside Maurice, the rats and the rat catchers' heads saying such things as " come CLOSER", "WHAT! CAT! CAT! KILL! resonates with JK Rowling's, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk in the drains of Hogwarts which Harry hears.