Adventures of the Rat Family

by Jules Verne, Felician Myrbach-Rheinfeld (Illustrator), Evelyn Copeland (Translator)

It is hard to believe that this small treasure was almost lost to the English-speaking world. First published in the French magazine Figaro illustre in 1893 and reprinted in Verne's posthumous 1910 anthology Hier et demain , it has never before been published in any form in English or
separately in book form in any language! This beautiful new edition brings the magic of Jules Verne to English-speaking children of all ages
The name Jules Verne conjures up many images--a trip around the world in 80 days and journeys to the moon, to the center of the earth, and 20,000 leagues under the sea. We think of him as an optimistic prophet of the 20th century. What a pleasant surprise to discover that Verne could also turn his
fanciful and fertile imagination to pure fantasy and fairy tale. Adventures of the Rat Family is a droll story, full of action and surprises, with a cast of characters guaranteed to enchant and amuse.
The adventure takes place "in the age of fairies and magicians, and also during the time that animals talked." The whole family of rats has been magically transformed by the evil magician Gardafour and is now languishing as a family of oysters. Can Ratine, our hero, wait for Ratine, his beloved,
until she is transformed to her true form once again? Can he, with the help of the fairy Firmenta, outfox Gardafour and the evil Prince Kissador, who scheme to keep the beautiful Ratine locked away forever?
Verne's tale is exciting and spellbinding for young readers, and older children and adults will enjoy his clever and biting satire on the social mores of his day. Original color illustrations by Felician Myrbach-Rheinfeld are beautiful, evocative, and very amusing.
This lost gem of children's literature will fast become a classic among children, their parents, and teachers.

Genres: Fiction

72 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1891

About the author

Novels of French writer Jules Gabriel Verne, considered the founder of modern science fiction, include Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

This author who pioneered the genre. People best know him for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870).

Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before people invented navigable aircraft and practical submarines and devised any means of spacecraft. He ranks behind Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie as the second most translated author of all time. People made his prominent films. People often refer to Verne alongside Herbert George Wells as the "father of science fiction."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_V...

Reviews

[Nostalgia Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more a fairy tale than the adventure story that I was expecting from Verne. I still loved it though!

[Nix · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brother was at the library lately checking out the sci-fi authors - Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, etc. He came upon this book and checked it out. I read it and it was so awesome. It was a fairy tale by Jules Verne (the only one he ever wrote, according to the very informative introduction and afterword). But it was really a two-level book. There was a whole lot of satire and the book mocked evolution by how its characters changed into different animals (again, according to the introduction and afterword). The names had a lot of significance. Of course there was love (there almost always is in a fairy tale) but it wasn't agreeable to me. It was cheap.

[Marie]

I read the first half of the book and then decided not to finish it. The story is too silly and strange for my taste. How bizarre is the story? It's set in a "happy magic time" in which oysters have human faces.

I predict that if I finished this book I would rate it 1 or 2 stars.

[Robin Helweg-Larsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairytale with a good fairy and an evil enchanter, and a family of rats that move up and down the evolutionary ladder, becoming over a few weeks oysters, fish, birds, mammals and humans as they search for love and status. Disparaging asides about women are the least engaging bits of the story.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

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[Luciano Franstric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mucho mucho estres, el genio y el principe son un dolor en el c*lo

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ia quite a different cup of tea from Jules Verne: a children's fantasy. This is an amusing tale of a family of rats caught in the throes of a complex love triangle. Two men are in love with the same girl, one vile and sinister and the other noble and brave. The good things is that she is in love with the latter. The odd thing is that she is... yes, she really is... a rat.

But this is okay because the whole premise of the story is that the characters have the potential to evolve through various stages of life forms before they ultimately become human. At first I thought this was all about 'reincarnation' but the 'afterward' clarified that Jules Verne was using 'evolution' as his medium of transmogrification. [If that's not a real word then refer to "Calvin and Hobbes."

It was an interesting idea, and Verne was able to approach the repetitive nature of fairy tales (which can lead to predictability)with skilled authorship. Mostly a novelty read. Short and amusing.

An interesting side note is that I read this while wading through that historical tome on 14th Century Europe [see my remarks under "My Favorite Intermissions":]. So, when I start mentioning to my wife the things I'm reading about the devastating effect of the black plague and she asks, "Is the in the book about the rat family?" I realize there is something of an ironic connection between the two books.

[Katey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadly, this isn't so much about rats as it is satire with a fairy tale coating. I don't know of any kid who would like or understand, much less appreciate, the nuance and 19th century context. Words like "centrifugal," "epoch," and "apotheosis" don't normally appear in a children's story.

While more often than not I would find a forward and afterword as long as the story irritating, they were both informative. Not only to this particular tale (Verne's only fairy tale, and only somewhat recently translated into English), but about Verne's entire works and what has gotten lost in translation, deliberately. And not speaking French, I would have never gotten the double meanings of certain character names without the afterword explaining it.

I appreciated that the illustrations were quite natural and realistic as they portrayed animals, but of course, I wish it was more about rats. While it completely misunderstands evolution, I'll forgive Verne for that since it was still a newer concept (and people nowadays STILL don't understand the basics of evolution), with the "higher" and "lower" animals, but I liked that they were just 2 evolutionary steps away from humans, with one of the characters choosing to remain a rat because it was "preferable to being a man." Agreed.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this in the library catalog while looking up other works by Jules Verne. I enjoyed this very much as a fairy tale. (Beth, I think you'd like it, too.) The nerd in me would like to read it again and pay more attention to the social commentary behind the story, maybe after reading a bit about French society at the time it was written.

Samuel isn't ready to appreciate this story yet. . .

[Friend of Pixie]

L's daddy tried reading him 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but it was a bit wordy and slow. So I found a DK book that had a short retelling of the story, plus lots of drawings and photos to explain things. L liked that. But I still want to expose him to the language of Verne, so I'll see if this might be more L's speed.

[Austen to Zafón]

Why: I've loved Jules Verne, who was a formative power of my childhood. I love steampunk because it picks up on Jules Verne aspects. So I don't know whether I will like a book that has none of that steampunk flavor. But we'll see. And it might be a good book for my 6-year-old.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter is likely to visit the Jules Verne museum during her upcoming trip to Amiens. We thought it would be fun to read some of his work before she goes. So far, this has been a great pick!