Rats

by Lian Tanner

Nicky's world is falling apart. Her dad's left home, her mum's sold their house, and now there's Pukeface - her dad's new girlfriend - to contend with. What can Nicky do but declare her life a Change-Free Zone?

Then sucky new girl Meeegan Stoat and her mysterious stepmother Imelda arrive. Soon Nicky is fighting for more than the Change-Free Zone. Who will believe that the beautiful Imelda Stoat is not all she seems? And what about the danger to Monty, Nicky's beloved pet rat...

A funny, fast-moving adventure about friendship, change and the cutest pet rats you'll ever meet.

207 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Lian Tanner has been dynamited while scuba diving and arrested while busking. She once spent a week in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, hunting for a Japanese soldier left over from the Second World War. She likes secrets, old bones, and animals that are not what they seem. Nowadays she lives by the beach in southern Tasmania.

Lian's bestselling fantasy series The Keepers won two Aurealis Awards for Best Australian Children's Fantasy and has been translated into eleven languages. Her second series, The Hidden, has been published in Australia/New Zealand and North America. Lian's third series, The Rogues, is set in the same world as The Keepers, and has been translated into Spanish.

Lian's first picture book 'Ella and the Ocean' (illustrated by Jonathan Bentley) won the 2020 NSW Premier's Award for Children's Literature and the 2022 Tasmanian Literary Award for Children's Books. A Clue for Clara won the 2021 Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for Best Children's Crime Novel, and its sequel, Rita's Revenge, was shortlisted for the 2022 NSW Premier's Award for Children's Literature.