The review copy I received was a little disheveled, but the story is really cute and the illustrations are fun.

This review is about an advance reader edition

The book is about Edgar the rat who lives in a barnyard. He thinks he is being followed, and the reader is taken page by page to try and figure out if Edgar is being followed, and by what. Various animals appear on each page to try and offer Edgar advice. The ending is quite cute.

Unfortunately, this book didn't appeal to either my daughter or myself. She didn't like the look of Edgar who looked "scary" and "angry" on the cover. She is also in the pink princess/bright color/glitter phase, and so the absence of those colors also made her want to read it even less.

I was quite surprised at the author's choice of an angry rat on the cover and thought there were better pictures to have chosen throughout the book.

This book is a good book for kids who like figuring out puzzles or mysteries. ( )

This is a very cute and surprising story that young readers will love. I did not like that the book was unbound and the cover is very thin. If placed in a school or public library this book will not last long. ( )

Cute story about assuming things. Cute how the worms are crawling at the bottom of the pages underground to see if the children are pay attention. :) ( )

Edgar is a barnyard rat who thinks he's being followed by an earthworm. This is a cute story with a surprise ending, which may or may not be as good for re-reads, depending on the audience.

This unbound advance reader edition, translated from French, doesn't have a statement as to the type of media used in the vibrant illustrations, but author/illustration Jean-François Dumont has stated in a July 2014 interview that he paints "with an acrylic resin or oil pigments." Dumont's book A Blue So Blue won the 2004 Prix Saint-Exupéry, an award given annually to the best illustrated picture book in France.

Dumont also says, "Edgar the rat is my favourite character, I do not know exactly why. He is the first character in the series of the farm that I created, and he has a bad temper but he is nice to draw." Some of the other books in his barnyard series, also translations from French, are The Chickens Build a Wall, The Geese March in Step, and The Sheep Go on Strike.

By the way, other Early Reviewers, it is VERY common for advance reader edition picture books to be unbound review copies. I'm surprised at all the complaints about this, for this book and others by Dumont. It would be cost-prohibitive to send reviewers bound copies. You can still review the story and the illustrations, even unbound. The copies that you PAY for WILL be bound.

© Amanda Pape - 2014

[This unbound galley proof was sent to me in exchange for an unbiased review by the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.] ( )