Terry Pratchett

Last night I finished The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. I've seen lots of Pratchett books around (he's wildly popular--especially in Britain), but I'd never picked one up until Kami's list revitalized my need to stay up until all hours reading. It was . . . different. I came away from it thinking--holy cow that was creative and unexpected and weird. I mean, did any of you expect to read a book about a talking cat who cajoles a bunch of talking rats to con whole towns into thinking there's a rat infestation and then hiring a rat piper (also in the cat's employ) to get rid of them? No, I hadn't expected to ever read a book like that either. On top of that, it was a philosophy book exploring the creation of religion and morality. Bet that caught you unawares. Me too. And while the writing was good, the plot incredibly clever, the philosophy interesting, I still went away thinking, "That was kind of a boy book." I'm so hard to please. Read it though--it was definitely worth reading. Whether or not I think it should be on a list for a nine-year-old, I'm not really sure. I'm leaning towards no--unless the nine year old had been me, or a reader like me. Judgement calls on age-appropriateness are just so tricky.