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Little Rat #1
Little Rat Sets Sail
It's time for Little Rat to start sailing lessons. But there's a BIG problem--she's afraid of water! She's scared she'll fall in, she's scared her boat will sink, and she's sure the other students will laugh at her.
Isn't it lucky, then, that Little Rat ends up with an instructor who helps her realize she is braver than she thinks?
Isn't it lucky, then, that Little Rat ends up with an instructor who helps her realize she is braver than she thinks?
48 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 2, 2013
Little Rat meets an Aquatic Challenge
Kudos to Monika Bang-Campbell for creating such a winning title of a winning series centred on the misadventures of a rat. Perhaps the most unlovable of all the rodent family, Bang-Campbell has succeeded in creating winning stories about the underdog.
Our heroine isn't keen on water, can't swim, and has parents who sign her up for sailing lessons--sound familiar, being cast out for weekdays filled with "fun" and "enrichment"? Bang-Campbell hasn't lost sight of the troubles of childhood, and being thrust about from activity to activity.
Since this is a "chapter book", it can be read in stages or all at once. We follow the hydrophobic heroine as she first spots the improbable Optis she'll learn to sail, to being taken under the wing by her lovable and understanding instructor, Buzzy Bear, to dealing with an equally frightened--and endearing--new sailor named Agnes. Little Rat realizes she'll never become the next Dawn Riley, but faces her fears and is stronger for it.
I liked this book for its frank, kid-friendly language ("Little Rat felt like a dork,") and for its portrayal of a strong, likable female character who tries hard even though she's scared.
Sugar/Acid Balance: Can you read this five times without going crazy?
Because this is a 'chapter book', it can be taken in stages if you're using this as a bed-time book--which is pretty much all I write about these days, anyway. There are, however, no highfalutin moral precepts here, and the author doesn't bang you over the head with "lessons", so if you did have to read this repeatedly, the chances of your encountering sour stomach are quite low. Warning: These statements have not been reviewed or authorized by your mother, or your RA. Remember quiet hours begin at 10 on weekdays, 9 on Sundays.
Length, Type, and Other Notes
Chapter book; 48 pages.
Kudos to Monika Bang-Campbell for creating such a winning title of a winning series centred on the misadventures of a rat. Perhaps the most unlovable of all the rodent family, Bang-Campbell has succeeded in creating winning stories about the underdog.
Our heroine isn't keen on water, can't swim, and has parents who sign her up for sailing lessons--sound familiar, being cast out for weekdays filled with "fun" and "enrichment"? Bang-Campbell hasn't lost sight of the troubles of childhood, and being thrust about from activity to activity.
Since this is a "chapter book", it can be read in stages or all at once. We follow the hydrophobic heroine as she first spots the improbable Optis she'll learn to sail, to being taken under the wing by her lovable and understanding instructor, Buzzy Bear, to dealing with an equally frightened--and endearing--new sailor named Agnes. Little Rat realizes she'll never become the next Dawn Riley, but faces her fears and is stronger for it.
I liked this book for its frank, kid-friendly language ("Little Rat felt like a dork,") and for its portrayal of a strong, likable female character who tries hard even though she's scared.
Sugar/Acid Balance: Can you read this five times without going crazy?
Because this is a 'chapter book', it can be taken in stages if you're using this as a bed-time book--which is pretty much all I write about these days, anyway. There are, however, no highfalutin moral precepts here, and the author doesn't bang you over the head with "lessons", so if you did have to read this repeatedly, the chances of your encountering sour stomach are quite low. Warning: These statements have not been reviewed or authorized by your mother, or your RA. Remember quiet hours begin at 10 on weekdays, 9 on Sundays.
Length, Type, and Other Notes
Chapter book; 48 pages.
October 24, 2012
This was a story about a rat who was signed up for sailing lessons by her parents and, she was always expecting the worst things to happen to her. Even before the lessons started, she was upset that her life jacket wasn't neat and didn't look like everyone else's. During her lessons, she had to overcome many of her fears and, the instructor, Buzzy Bear, was there to help and challenge her every step of the way. She started out upset that her parents had signed her up for the sailing lessons but by the end of them, she was a whole new rat. She was ready to challenge herself and not let anything hold her back; she was able to find out how much better things were when she was a brave little rat instead of a scared one.
I feel that this book would be a good read-aloud to first or second graders. The book is broken up into short chapters that allow for class discussion at the end of each chapter to discuss what is going on in the story and predictions about what happens next can be made by students. The illustrations were very colorful and helped the reader feel like they were with the little rat as she completed her sailing lessons. Readers could also sense the moods of every character on each page by the expressions on there faces and based on what was going on in the story. I believe students would be able to relate to many aspects in this story: going away from home during the summer for camp, conquering your fears, or trusting others. Strongly recommended! Great story!
I feel that this book would be a good read-aloud to first or second graders. The book is broken up into short chapters that allow for class discussion at the end of each chapter to discuss what is going on in the story and predictions about what happens next can be made by students. The illustrations were very colorful and helped the reader feel like they were with the little rat as she completed her sailing lessons. Readers could also sense the moods of every character on each page by the expressions on there faces and based on what was going on in the story. I believe students would be able to relate to many aspects in this story: going away from home during the summer for camp, conquering your fears, or trusting others. Strongly recommended! Great story!
April 22, 2014
This transitional chapter book written by Monika Bang-Campbell is an excellent read for young readers who are developing into the chapter book stage. Little Rat, a young girl, is forced by her parents to take sailing lessons. She shows up to the lessons already feeling out of place because of her outfit, but the story doesn't stop there; she's afraid of boats. Little Rat, who is afraid of turning over into the water with eels and jelly fish, finds a friend named Buzzy Bear who temporarily helps her conquer her fears. After a new classmate comes to the lessons and hops into the boat with Little Rat and Buzzy Bear, their boat gets stuck on a sandbar. After helping remove the boat from the sand, Little Rat began to feel safe inside the boat, until the storm came when she was out in the ocean. After getting home, her mother reminded her about all of the adventures Little Rat had over the summer, reminding Little Rat of how brave she had become. The beautiful illustrations add to the value of this charming story. This would be an excellent read for first or second grade before they let out for summer, or even when learning to analyze stories. Molly Bang does an excellent job at illustrating the feelings Bang-Campbell portrayed through her writing, and are an excellent aid to younger children in the transitional stage. Overall, it is a pretty good book. Although it is not my favorite, this endearing book is a good read for younger children, and possibly a good two or three day read aloud.
March 6, 2013
This easy read book would be great for 2nd grade students. Monika Bang-Campell's "Little Rat Sets Sea" is a story about a character named Little Rat who's parents sign her up to take summer sailing lessons even though she does not want to at all. Little Rat is scared of the water and is scared of falling in. She is forced to take the lessons anyways. Her life jacket was different than the others and she seemed to be the only one who was scared and nervous. With the help of the leader Buzzy Bear, Little Rat is able to conquer her fears and by the end of the summer she has overcome so many obstacles. She went down a steep scary hill daily, she jumped into the water to try and help, she put the jib up on her own, and most of all she ended up enjoying sailing lessons. This book would be great for students as it demonstrates the capability of being able to overcome a fear. The illustrations by Molly Bang, follow right along with the story and basically tell the story themselves as they express Little Rat's emotions. There is great detail involved in the pictures and they are illustrated with vibrant colors and elegant brush strokes. The pictures help bring the story to life. Overall, I feel children could relate to this story and would truly enjoy reading it.
April 16, 2013
Little Rat is small and she is afraid of many things. Her parents sign her up for sailing lessons and she struggles to overcome her fear of the large hill she must climb to get to the shore where the lessons begin. To top it all off, Little Rat is shy and feels like an outcast because everyone else isn't struggling with the fears that she has to face. However, once Little Rat develops a sense of purpose, her fears dissipate and she becomes a brave Little Rat who has survived the last day of sailing lessons.
Molly Bang's illustrations are quite detailed and do a wonderful job depicting the expressions of Little Rat as she tries to overcome her biggest fears. Her illustrations of the sailboats out on the ocean are reminiscent of paintings I've seen in a gallery. She even adds an illustration of sailboat and labels all the parts of the boat by their technical names.
The lexile of this book is 540L which places it in the third through fourth grade level. Some of the vocabulary within this book is indicative of a higher reading level, however, the story is simple and the central message could be determined by first and second graders. I think this is an excellent book to read to younger children as it may aid them in overcoming their biggest fears just like Little Rat did.
Molly Bang's illustrations are quite detailed and do a wonderful job depicting the expressions of Little Rat as she tries to overcome her biggest fears. Her illustrations of the sailboats out on the ocean are reminiscent of paintings I've seen in a gallery. She even adds an illustration of sailboat and labels all the parts of the boat by their technical names.
The lexile of this book is 540L which places it in the third through fourth grade level. Some of the vocabulary within this book is indicative of a higher reading level, however, the story is simple and the central message could be determined by first and second graders. I think this is an excellent book to read to younger children as it may aid them in overcoming their biggest fears just like Little Rat did.
December 4, 2014
Little Rat Sets Sail by Monika Bang-Campbell is a wonderful transition book. It is a cross between a picture book and a chapter book which makes it great for the young advanced reader. It is a fun story about a little girl rat named Little Rat who's parents sign her up for sailing lessons even though she is afraid of the water. Little Rat goes to sailing lessons and is afraid that the rest of the kids will make fun of her. Overtime though, Little Rat becomes more comfortable sailing because of her helpful instructor. I would definitely recommend this book to children who are starting to read longer books, probably around the first and second grade reading level. The pictures in this transitional book are bright and colorful. They add to the story, but the story is mostly told through the words. I think this book does a great job with teaching a lesson without being didactic. Little Rat is worried about being bullied but finds out that the other students don't laugh at her. I think this sends a great message to children about being accepted for who you are. I think this is a great book for the younger advanced reader who is exploring starting to read chapter books!
November 28, 2011
Easy-to-Read Book
This is a story about a young rat who is terrified of doing dangerous things. She has trouble walking down a steep hill because she might fall. Most of all she is scared of the ocean. She is supposed to take sailing classes, and with the help of her teacher Buzzy Bear, she conquers her fear and has many obstacles she overcomes throughout her experience. In the end she is very happy she did it and wants to continue sailing in the future. This story is one that many kids can relate to. Kids are sometimes scared of the water for many of the reasons Little Rat is. Little Rat showed that by taking things one step at a time, anyone can overcome fears.
the illustrations were well done. The pictures showed a lot about the story and gave emotion and livliness to the story. There was even an informative picture about the different sails on a boat.
This is a story about a young rat who is terrified of doing dangerous things. She has trouble walking down a steep hill because she might fall. Most of all she is scared of the ocean. She is supposed to take sailing classes, and with the help of her teacher Buzzy Bear, she conquers her fear and has many obstacles she overcomes throughout her experience. In the end she is very happy she did it and wants to continue sailing in the future. This story is one that many kids can relate to. Kids are sometimes scared of the water for many of the reasons Little Rat is. Little Rat showed that by taking things one step at a time, anyone can overcome fears.
the illustrations were well done. The pictures showed a lot about the story and gave emotion and livliness to the story. There was even an informative picture about the different sails on a boat.
April 28, 2011
While not in a format that I normally enjoy or even try picking up, I found Little Rat Sets Sail to be a fantastic example of what an easy reader-type book should be. I thought the book was tied together well and illustrated in such a manner as to create a sense of character. Also the story itself was well developed with the story progressing in a predictable but readily understood manner. Finally Little Rat herself was a great character, having a fear that was debilitating but not letting that fear rule her life, and Mrs. Bang-Campbell was great at portraying that.
November 15, 2012
Mommy is still enjoying this one after many reads
April 11, 2019
Peaceful
May 19, 2016
This book (c) 2007. Interesting with daughter author, mother illustrator. Pub; Harcourt, Inc. (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
I agree with other’s positive reviews on this book. To add to those, I’ve taught sailing to youth for 35 years. While this sailing book has critter characters, it is a better sailing book than my previous two favorite children's sailing yarns; Avi’s Windcather, or Douglas Alvord's, Sarah's Boat: A Young Girl Learns the Art of Sailing. (Avi’s book is more an adventure story.)
Great color illustrations, example depicting “…deep dark water…” (no page numbers. e.g. in Ch 1 "pg 9".
Technically, very accurate sailing info, except the consistent typo of the Javelin sailboat always spelled with a lower-j.)
I like how this to my mind is the only sailing story where the characters are all wearing their lifejackets, including the class instructor. Well illustrated by the artist.
The illustrations blend and support the text wonderfully. E.g. Ch 3, “Little Rat held the tiller…” we see in the illustration instantly what the tiller is.
- Word count est. with theme of each chapter -
ch 1 400 (sailing class, PFD's, big hill, view of fleet, thoughts of deep water)
ch 2 300 (sailing with instructor, Buzzy Bear)
3 245 (grounding on sandbar)
4 220 (hanking on the jib)
5 460
total 1625
Interesting interview with author and illustrator at...
http://www.harcourtbooks.com/authorin...
I agree with other’s positive reviews on this book. To add to those, I’ve taught sailing to youth for 35 years. While this sailing book has critter characters, it is a better sailing book than my previous two favorite children's sailing yarns; Avi’s Windcather, or Douglas Alvord's, Sarah's Boat: A Young Girl Learns the Art of Sailing. (Avi’s book is more an adventure story.)
Great color illustrations, example depicting “…deep dark water…” (no page numbers. e.g. in Ch 1 "pg 9".
Technically, very accurate sailing info, except the consistent typo of the Javelin sailboat always spelled with a lower-j.)
I like how this to my mind is the only sailing story where the characters are all wearing their lifejackets, including the class instructor. Well illustrated by the artist.
The illustrations blend and support the text wonderfully. E.g. Ch 3, “Little Rat held the tiller…” we see in the illustration instantly what the tiller is.
- Word count est. with theme of each chapter -
ch 1 400 (sailing class, PFD's, big hill, view of fleet, thoughts of deep water)
ch 2 300 (sailing with instructor, Buzzy Bear)
3 245 (grounding on sandbar)
4 220 (hanking on the jib)
5 460
total 1625
Interesting interview with author and illustrator at...
http://www.harcourtbooks.com/authorin...
September 4, 2008
Little Rat's parents have signed her up for sailing lessons without even asking her and she's scared! Slowly over the course of her summer of sailing lessons, Little Rat learns to deal with her fears. The fears don't go away by any means, but Little Rat learns to handle them. While some more adventurous children may not understand Little Rat's trepidations, this is pitch perfect for those who approach life with a little more caution. The illustrations add lots of fun details too as when the text described Little Rat as making herself as small as possible and all we see are her ears sticking out from behind a rock. However, I was annoyed by the passage in which Buzzy Bear "rounded up three other students" besides Little Rat and then the illustrations show Buzzy Bear and three students total including Little Rat. I think kids will notice this sort of thing and deserve better; it's sloppy. Still, good enough to recommend to some beginning readers who are just reaching fluency. This would also be good for children who are just being introduced to sailing.
March 7, 2012
Grade Level: 1st - 4th
I really liked this book. I was also surprised to see it was a chapter book! This book is ingrained with a life lesson told through the the story of the little rat. The little rat is afraid of the water, but also has little self-confidence in her abilities to sail. Through the book, she becomes more confident in her abilities to sail and becomes less afraid of the water, even though she still doesn't like to swim. I think this is a great book to teach a lesson to children even though you might be afraid of something, you should still try. Once you know you can do it, you become more confident in yourself and proud of what you can accomplish. You then start to dream bigger for yourself.
I really liked this book. I was also surprised to see it was a chapter book! This book is ingrained with a life lesson told through the the story of the little rat. The little rat is afraid of the water, but also has little self-confidence in her abilities to sail. Through the book, she becomes more confident in her abilities to sail and becomes less afraid of the water, even though she still doesn't like to swim. I think this is a great book to teach a lesson to children even though you might be afraid of something, you should still try. Once you know you can do it, you become more confident in yourself and proud of what you can accomplish. You then start to dream bigger for yourself.
October 14, 2009
Little Rat is signed up for sailing lessons over the summer! The only problem is, she is scared of falling in the water! She pictures the ocean full of eels and jellyfish! How can she learn to sail if she is afraid of the water?! Buzzy Bear is Little Rat's teacher. He makes her feel more safe, and teaches her a lot about sailing! Will Little Rat be brave enough to sail all by herself?
Monika Bang-Campbell is able to include many authentic sailing terms in this book for beginning readers. Children will learn what it means to capsize a boat as well as put up a jib. Many words in the text are decodable and students will love going on this adventure with Little Rat!
Monika Bang-Campbell is able to include many authentic sailing terms in this book for beginning readers. Children will learn what it means to capsize a boat as well as put up a jib. Many words in the text are decodable and students will love going on this adventure with Little Rat!
November 28, 2011
This is a story about a little rat whose parents sign her up to take sailing lessons even though she does not want to. In this story she is forced to overcome her fears and do things such as climb a big hill, wear a life jacket that she thinks is dorky, and also sail a boat. She is very shy and nervous about doing all these things but with the help of her teacher Buzzy Bear she is able to conquor her fears and be brave. This I believe is a very fun book for kids, and the illustrations are great. It can teach youngsters to face their fears and be brave just like Little Rat. All in all a good book.
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September 30, 2007
This is a great story about a scared little kid who feels different from everyone else in sailing class. Like "The Little Engine that Could" she ends up with a good deal more self-esteem by the end of the summer, maybe next year she'll even sail by herself!
December 21, 2010
A sincere lesson in how even though you may be scared, not like, nor be the best at something, you owe it to yourself to try. Little Rat's determination is admirable, and her journey heartwarming. On a side note, the book is written and illustrated by Molly Bang's daughter, Monika Bang-Campbell.
September 19, 2010
I liked Little Rat's emotions and vulnerability, but I lost interest with the sailing terms. (Oh, and those "chapters" don't really work.)
January 3, 2018
1/3/18 Read with Naomi & Julia.
October 18, 2023
very cute kid's book
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