Cheese Belongs to You! - by Alexis Deacon (Hardcover)

About the Book

Rat Law says that if you're a rat, cheese belongs to you. But there are exceptions. For example, if a big rat wants it, cheese belongs to him. Unless a bigger rat wants it, or a quicker one, or a stronger one. And if a big, quick, strong, scary, hairy, dirty rat wants it, well ... where does it end?

Book Synopsis

Venture into the untamed world of Rat Law! Kids will laugh at this funny, frenetic look at group dynamics from an innovative picturebook team.

Rat Law says that if you're a rat, cheese belongs to you. But there are exceptions. For example, if a big rat wants it, cheese belongs to him. Unless a bigger rat wants it, or a quicker one, or a stronger one. And if a big, quick, strong, scary, hairy, dirty rat wants it, well . . . where does it end? A tumble of cumulative adjectives and a frenzy of hungry critters build up to a final note of politeness in a book sure to satisfy kids' appetites for zany humor.

Review Quotes

Not since Ratatouille have rats been so unnerving yet gleefully entertaining.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

An amusingly ferocious illustration of the benefits of sharing...
--Kirkus Reviews

[A] zany riff on the familiar "mouse takes the cheese" refrain. ... Pencil and digitally colored drawings, rendered in muted shades of red and blue, portray dozens of individual rodents in endless, hilarious detail. ... With its spare, repetitive language, oddball humor, and just enough "ick" factor, this tale is sure to entertain young children in a group read-aloud while offering a satisfying lesson on the value of sharing.
--School Library Journal

The illustrations ... are sure to produce squeals of fright and delight from readers. Surprisingly, there is a great lesson about sharing tucked neatly into the last pages, which gives this silly story a little extra heart. ... Any way that a young reader experiences this book, whether during individual reading or in a group, this will be fun.
--Booklist

The rules-lawyering is rhythmic and sonorous as well as conceptually appealing, and the breathlessness of the expansions is kid-true and readaloud-amusing. ... [T]he individual rats are comedic exaggerated figures with cartoonish details... It won't take much to convince kids to come up with their own additional layers of rat-law hierarchy (smellier rats? louder rats?), so this could easily become an absurd entry in a language arts unit as well as just an entertaining twist on jungle rules.
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

About the Author

Alexis Deacon is the author of A Place to Call Home, illustrated by Viviane Schwarz. He is also an acclaimed illustrator: Beegu and Jitterbug Jam, both of which he illustrated, were named as New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year. Alexis Deacon lives in London.

Viviane Schwarz is the author-illustrator of There Are Cats in This Book, which was short-listed for the Kate Greenaway medal, as well as There Are No Cats in This Book and The Sleepwalkers. She is also the illustrator of A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon. Viviane Schwarz lives in London.