The teeming, almost anthropomorphized rats dominating the first two spreads create a disequilibrium never quite redeemed by the narrative and illustrations, which don???t achieve the symbiotic interplay that characterizes more successful work???including the illustrator???s own, in such books as Almost to Freedom, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (2003). (Picture book. 5-8) Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 2009ISBN: