Lynne Jonell

This is the first audio book I've listened to that had a bunch of different actors playing the characters. I didn't like it very much, particularly the guy that the did the voice of the Rat. Maybe I'm just used to a single narrator, but the overall effect was that the bad actors stood out in a cringe-inducing way.

On to the book itself: I've long admired the cover of this one, but never had the chance to read it. Anyway, it circulates very well at the library without me having to recommend it. So I expected to really like it, but my feelings were just lukewarm. I'm going to say that the guy doing the voice of the Rat was so unpleasant that it tainted the entire book, but I was also bothered (as I often am) by the one-dimensional villain, Ms. Barmy, and a couple very convenient plot devices that rang a little hollow.

So, not an awesome book, but pretty fun. Emmy is a sympathetic heroine, Joe a good sidekick, the magic rats a little weird but lovable. Rich people are portrayed as being mostly selfish and shallow, which is tantamount to saying all poor people are lazy and stupid, but the point of the book is more that kids should stand up for themselves instead of just doing what their evil nannies tell them to do.… (more)

Emmy used to live with her loving parents in a small apartment over a bookstore, but when they inherited a big house and a lot of money, and Miss Jane Barmy became Emmy's nanny, her parents started to travel to far-flung places - without Emmy. And no one in Emmy's new school notices her - it's like she's not even there. But when Emmy frees the class pet, a rat, her life gets much more interesting...

With flavors of The Mysterious Benedict Society (narcolepsy), Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (clever rodent societies), The Witches (shrinking to rat-size), and Bruce Coville's Magic Shop books, EMMY is incredibly imaginative and clever.

Quotes

"It's the meanest thing in the world," said Emmy severely, to ignore someone. It makes a person feel like she doesn't even exist." (17)

What was the use of trying to do everything she was supposed to when nobody ever cared anyway? (27)

"Suddenly, money meant nothing to them, except for the good it could do. They no longer cared about trying to make people envy them - they thought about making people feel valued instead." (Professor Capybara, 275)

She'd always thought it would be wonderful to be a grown-up - but not all at once. Not if she had to miss everything in between. (281)… (more)