Rat

by Lesley Choyce

Colin has had enough. After helping an elderly man who is being tormented by a couple of his classmates, Colin finds himself the object of their attention. And when they post an unflattering photo of him online, he finds that there are more victims than just himself. Frustrated at the problems in the school and with the code of silence that everyone lives by, Colin decides to fight back—with unexpected consequences.

Genres: School, Young Adult

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

About the author

Lesley Choyce is a novelist and poet living at Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia. He is the author of more than 80 books for adults, teens and children. He teaches in the English Department and Transition Year Program at Dalhousie University. He is a year-round surfer and founding member of the 1990s spoken word rock band, The SurfPoets. Choyce also runs Pottersfield Press, a small literary publishing house and hosted the national TV show, Off The Page, for many years. His books have been translated into Spanish, French, German and Danish and he has been awarded the Dartmouth Book Award and the Ann Connor Brimer Award.

Lesley Choyce was born in New Jersey in 1951 and moved to Canada in 1978 and became a citizen.

His YA novels concern things like skateboarding, surfing, racism, environmental issues, organ transplants, and rock bands.

Reviews

[milo ೃ⁀➷ · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the fuck did I just read

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely quick read. Although I enjoyed it, there is absolutely no set up of the character. Its like walking into an already started movie.

The subject matter is interesting and well written

[Pistachio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this for a school assignment. The characters were bland and lacking realistic emotion.

But it was quick and I enjoyed complaining about it while I read!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

School pisses Colin off; so do his teachers who view him as a troublemaker. But what really pisses him off are the bullies who get away with it because no one wants to break the code of silence that the bullies rely on. When Colin interrupts Liam and Craig picking on an old man during lunch break, the vice principal catches the tail end where the old man yells at Colin and he gets in trouble for it. He also winds up on Liam and Craig’s hit list and a photoshopped, nude photo of Colin winds up on GoofFace. Colin could handle that because the body wasn’t even his and anyone would see that. But when pictures of his female friends begin appearing and Emily, a fellow outcast, tells him that she thinks Liam and Craig did it to retaliate for the girls turning them down, Colin feels he has to do something about it and considers defying the unwritten social rules of no snitching. The unwritten code is so pervasive in the school that even the vice principal accuses him of ratting when he comes to tell him what is happening. This book for reluctant readers provides a realistic portrayal of timely topics including cyberbullying, sexual harassment, and school violence.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite his own reputation as a troublemaker, Colin despises students who bully while student onlookers remain silent. When Colin speaks out against bullies who amused themselves by tormenting an elderly man, he becomes the focus of the bullies’ abuse. They post an embarrassing photoshopped image of him on a social networking website. Colin’s peers are polarized by the events, especially when embarrassing pictures of his female friends begin appearing online. Again Colin defies the (unwritten) social code against “ratting,” and turns in the bullies. He makes new enemies, and some new allies.

Jerome is one of Colin’s new supporters. When Colin discover Jerome is selling weapons to kids at school for “self defense,” Colin threatens to turn Jerome in, then backs off, fearing he will add to his growing reputation as the school “rat.” Colin soon regrets not speaking up. Jerome is shot and dies.

Choyce’s gritty urban realism will appeal to many teen readers, particularly reluctant readers. The plot is active with contemporary dialogue and vocabulary, and addresses timely issues of concern to young adults, including cyberbullying, sexual harassment, and school violence.

[Tristan Adamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off I just want to say this book was pretty good. Colin really gets mad when he see kids getting bullied and other people don't do anything. But when does try and make things better by speaking out a group of bad kids post an embarrassing photo of him online.During this process Colin gets some help from The VP but also some enemies including Jerome. Well Jerome is selling guns at school for "Self Defense" Colin was going to turn Jerome in but didn't due to his growing reputation of being the "Rat". Jerome gets shot and killed and Colin thinks he's made a bad choice by not saying anything to anyone about Jerome.Jerome's kill is known but can't be located by the cops. They talk to Colin about it and while he already knew he had enemies he finds out that people do also really like him. This Book is Rat by Lesley Choyce and I recommend it to absolutely anyone.

[DylanB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade/interest level:4th grade-8th
Reading level:580L
Genre: Fiction
Main Characters: colin, and emily
Setting: summer in a town
POV:1st person
I like this book a lot because it has a young boy in it. That young boy is just trying to help people out but he just keeps getting pushed to the side. This boy named Colin is a kind souled boy and he has two people nicknamed lumpy and caveman. They are black mailers so if you be mean to them they will post fake nood pictures of you it would be you face and head but not your body. So Colin and Emily are trying to earthier get back at caveman and lumpy or they will stop them from ever black mailing people again.

[Dylan Berger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade/interest level:4th grade-8th
Reading level:580L
Genre: Fiction
Main Characters: colin, and emily
Setting: summer in a town
POV:1st person
I like this book a lot because it has a young boy in it. That young boy is just trying to help people out but he just keeps getting pushed to the side. This boy named Colin is a kind souled boy and he has two people nicknamed lumpy and caveman. They are black mailers so if you be mean to them they will post fake nood pictures of you it would be you face and head but not your body. So Colin and Emily are trying to earthier get back at caveman and lumpy or they will stop them from ever black mailing people again.

[Miss Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

this doesn't sound like any high school kid i've ever met. quick read though. 2 stars

[Charles Wang · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it from the school library,I didn't get too much things yet.

[Christian]

Rat by Lesley Choyce is a story about a young boy named Colin,he decides to go ratting people out after what happened to him.He got exposed on social media.

I choose this book because I found it interesting.I read the back and it talked about drugs and dangerous things and how people like snitching on other people.


I kept reading it because I wanted to find out what they did to Colin for snitching on people.

I would recommend this book to other people it was a really good book to read.