Buy new:
$35.00
FREE delivery 29 May - 3 June. Details
Or fastest delivery 21 - 22 May. Details
Usually dispatched within 9 to 10 days
$$35.00 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$35.00
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Delivery cost, delivery date and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
33Officials
Ships from
33Officials
Sold by
33Officials
Sold by
33Officials
Returns
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition within 30 days of receipt for change of mind. However, if your item is damaged or defective, you may be entitled to a remedy after 30 days. Contact the seller or visit Third-Party Seller Returns to learn more.
Read our returns policies
Returns
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition within 30 days of receipt for change of mind. However, if your item is damaged or defective, you may be entitled to a remedy after 30 days. Contact the seller or visit Third-Party Seller Returns to learn more.
Read our returns policies
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
New & Used (3) from
$34.99  & FREE Delivery
Other Sellers on Amazon
Added
$56.36
& FREE Delivery
Sold by: Nimbus Retail ~
Sold by: Nimbus Retail ~
(462 ratings)
96% positive over last 12 months
Usually dispatched within 4 to 5 days
Delivery Rates and Return policy
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer—no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Philip Pullman
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

I Was a Rat! Paperback – 1 December 2004

by Philip Pullman (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 250
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$35.00","priceAmount":35.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"35","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"UiYouER7MNqdyGcdMdTPvZyHl%2BWZRrtQ4GjJjUCsxeu0dD5C0fc7362FDL1N7cr4pWrOb6%2FNq7wnDSZwczRbBLVyebBg%2FOLV5NdimVMu4guHjJpgQqTpH0bvTe93wNzKRGvNvdfxDawtweGS8SeIxOvVFr%2FyNypvuAEd7S6oF4BS4h%2FE8x8T9qNqdKFg2oeh","locale":"en-AU","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

When a small boy turns up on Bob and Joan's doorstep unable to say much except 'I was a rat', the kindly couple adopt him. It seems strange but Bob reads about odder things every day in his newspaper. To them, the sunny little chap is Roger, and he's trying hard to adapt to human life. But when he gets lost and ends up on the run, other people, egged on by their newspapers, are quick to see him as the Monster, a rodent fiend who could terrorise the town. Only a friend in a very high place could save Roger from the authorities who are determined to exterminate him- Cleverly weaving elements of the Cinderella story into a subtle parody of modern times, master storyteller Philip Pullman has created a gallery of fascinating characters from the virtuous to the villainous, in a book which will grip every reader who picks it up.
Previous page
  1. Reading age
    9 - 11 years
  2. Print length
    176 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Dimensions
    13 x 1.2 x 19.4 cm
  5. Publisher
    CORGI CHILDREN
  6. Publication date
    1 December 2004
  7. ISBN-10
    9780440866398
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0440866398
  9. See all details
Next page

Frequently bought together

I Was a Rat!
$35.00
Get it 29 May - Jun 3
Usually dispatched within 9 to 10 days
Ships from and sold by 33Officials.
+
A Single Shard
$13.85
In stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
+
Doll Bones
$19.25
Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
Total Price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items dispatch sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

From the brand

Previous page
  2. Billy And The Epic Escape
    Hot Mess: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (19)
    The Grandest Game
    Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Wrath of the Triple Goddess

    PRE-ORDER NOW

  3. Bluey: Trains: An Illustrated Chapter Book
    Kevin the Sheep: Kevin the Sheep 1
    Friday Barnes 12: Collision Course: The bestselling detective series
    Shower Land 1: Break the Curse

    NEW RELEASES

  4. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (Book 1)
    Wonka: The Story Before the Chocolate Factory
    No Brainer: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (18)
    Blank Spaces: An Unofficial Taylor Swift Fan Journal: An Unofficial Taylor Swift Fan Journal

    BESTSELLERS

  5. Bluey: At the Beach: A Colouring Book
    Spot's Magnet Fun
    96 Facts About Taylor Swift: Quizzes, Quotes, Questions, and More! With Bonus Journal Pages for W...
    The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Australian Feast Sticker and Colouring Book

    ACTIVITY BOOKS

  6. Bluey: Cricket: A Hardback Picture Book
    Bluey: Little Library: 4 Books in 1
    Bluey: Treasury: 6 stories in 1
    Bluey: Trains: An Illustrated Chapter Book

    BEST OF BLUEY

  7. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
    Where is The Green Sheep?
    Spot Goes to a Party
    The Tale of Peter Rabbit Picture Book

    BELOVED CHARACTERS

  8. Little White Lies: From the bestselling author of The Inheritance Games
    The Invocations
    Snowglobe
    Eleanor Jones is Not a Murderer

    YOUNG ADULT

  9. Boy Overboard: the award-winning middle grade companion novel to Girl Underground
    Blueback
    Thai-riffic!
    Paper Planes

    AUSTRALIAN CLASSICS

Next page

Product description

Review

"This is a highly artful, child-friendly pastiche which takes a famous fairy tale as its starting point, pokes fun at adult pretensions and gullibility on the way, and rattles along to a deeply satisfying conclusion" (Daily Telegraph)

"Combining elements of fairy tale, satire, slapstick humour and suspenseful melodrama . . . A glorious tale" (Guardian)

"All life is here in this skilful unfolding of a very human tale from a great storyteller" (The Bookseller)

"A comic genius of children's fiction" (The Times)

"A skilful fusion of fairytale and contemporary culture, combining elements of satire, slapstick humour and suspenseful melodrama to create a wonderfully imaginative story that can be read on many levels" (Writeaway!)

Book Description

An intriguing and exciting tale about a rat who turned into a little boy and couldn't change back again, reissued in a new paperback edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0440866391
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ CORGI CHILDREN; 1st edition (1 December 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780440866398
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0440866398
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 9 - 11 years
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 1.2 x 19.4 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 250

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

PHILIP PULLMAN is one of the most acclaimed writers working today. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly. He has also won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the best children's book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for The Amber Spyglass; a Booker Prize long-list nomination (The Amber Spyglass); Parents' Choice Gold Awards (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work. In 2004, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

It has recently been announced that The Book of Dust, the much anticipated new book from Mr. Pullman, also set in the world of His Dark Materials, will be published as a major work in three parts, with the first part to arrive in October 2017.

Philip Pullman is the author of many other much-lauded novels. Other volumes related to His Dark Materials: Lyra’s Oxford, Once Upon a Time in the North, and The Collectors. For younger readers: I Was a Rat!; Count Karlstein; Two Crafty Criminals; Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Scarecrow and His Servant. For older readers: the Sally Lockhart quartet: The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, and The Tin Princess; The White Mercedes; and The Broken Bridge.

Philip Pullman lives in Oxford, England. To learn more, please visit philip-pullman.com and hisdarkmaterials.com. Or follow him on Twitter at @PhilipPullman.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
250 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There are 0 reviews and 0 ratings from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Winter Mum
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 January 2022
Verified Purchase
I read this to my son and daughters (6, 8 and 11) as a bedtime story. My 6 year old disliked the story, her 8 year old brother liked it and their 11 year old sister found it good but not unmissable (she skipped listening to a few chapters when she had other things to do).

The story imagines what happens after Cinderella goes to the Ball - but told through the eyes of a minor character; a rat who became a page boy. Familiarity with the Cinderella story is useful before reading this book.

The language was good for introducing some new vocabulary, including sanctimonious, to my 8 year old; the word hell cropped up a couple of times - something my son was a bit shocked by!

The story is partially told through tabloid newspaper articles - occasionally interspersed between chapters. This device impacts the flow of the story a bit, which I think is one of the reasons it wasn't a hit with my younger daughter. The story satirises tabloid journalism - something older children and adults will probably appreciate more than younger children.

Our copy of the book was bought second hand (via Amazon) from Better World Books Ltd. and was described as Used - Very Good. It is an ex-library book which looks like new (apart from the addition of a date label, etc) - very good condition, very good value; will definitely buy from Better World Books again.
2 people found this helpful
 Report
Suzanne Werner
5.0 out of 5 stars IWASARAT
Reviewed in the United States on 11 December 2018
Verified Purchase
this was a delightful story about folks living in the outskirts of fairy tales. Also pretty sure there’s a lot of subtext that I missed on purpose because I was so drawn in by the story. I’ll read this again ASAP. Phillip Pullman is rad.
Report
frostbitten geezer
5.0 out of 5 stars Good story, enjoyable performance
Reviewed in Canada on 9 November 2018
Verified Purchase
I've had the DVD for some time, and am also a Pullman reader, so this turned up in a casual search. The only disappointment (and my own error) was it wasn't Full Cast as with many Pullman audiobooks. The price was right, the delivery was timely, and the performance was quite enjoyable. A valued addition to my library.
Report
Yogi
5.0 out of 5 stars Ein Märchen für Erwachsene
Reviewed in Germany on 22 February 2019
Verified Purchase
...vielleicht auch besonders für Mitmenschen, die Enkel haben. Das Englisch nicht zu schwierig, die Story nicht zu lang, eine herzberührende Geschichte. Dieses Buch war MEIN Einsteiger zum Lesen englischsprachiger Bücher, deren es inzwischen eine beachtliche Zahl geworden ist. Also - wer jemanden dazu bringen möchte, Englisches zu lesen und seine fremdsprachlichen Kenntnisse somit auszubauen - "I was a Rat" könnte ein Anfang sein.
Report
Juwairiya
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!!!!!!!!👏🏻👏🏻😃
Reviewed in India on 25 July 2017
Verified Purchase
Very nice book please buy it😊😊
One person found this helpful
 Report