Adventures of the Rat Family

by Jules Verne

Book Overview

It is hard to believe that this small treasure was almost lost to the English-speaking world. First published in the French magazine Figaro illustre in 1893 and reprinted in Verne's posthumous 1910 anthology Hier et demain, it has never before been published in any form in English or separately in book form in any language This beautiful new edition brings the magic of Jules Verne to English-speaking children of all ages
The name Jules Verne conjures up many images--a trip around the world in 80 days and journeys to the moon, to the center of the earth, and 20,000 leagues under the sea. We think of him as an optimistic prophet of the 20th century. What a pleasant surprise to discover that Verne could also turn his fanciful and fertile imagination to pure fantasy and fairy tale. Adventures of the Rat Family is a droll story, full of action and surprises, with a cast of characters guaranteed to enchant and amuse.
The adventure takes place "in the age of fairies and magicians, and also during the time that animals talked." The whole family of rats has been magically transformed by the evil magician Gardafour and is now languishing as a family of oysters. Can Ratine, our hero, wait for Ratine, his beloved, until she is transformed to her true form once again? Can he, with the help of the fairy Firmenta, outfox Gardafour and the evil Prince Kissador, who scheme to keep the beautiful Ratine locked away forever?
Verne's tale is exciting and spellbinding for young readers, and older children and adults will enjoy his clever and biting satire on the social mores of his day. Original color illustrations by Felician Myrbach-Rheinfeld are beautiful, evocative, and very amusing.
This lost gem of children's literature will fast become a classic among children, their parents, and teachers.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195081145
• ISBN13: 9780195081145
• Release Date: December 1993
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 72 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.4" x 10.3"
• Age Range: 10 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 5 and higher

Customer Reviews

Another Jules Verne Treasure

Adventures of the Rat Family is one of Verne's most unusual stories, in which he diverged from his usual formula to write his only fairy tale and one of his few pure fantasies. First published in France over a century ago, it is now published in an elegant children's edition by Oxford University Press (72 pp., ...). Included are all 17 original color illustrations by Felician Myrbach-Rheinfeld, reproduced from the January 1891 holiday issue of the fashionable Parisian journal Le Figaro illustre.Adventures of the Rat Family was not published in book form until after Verne's death, with theappearance of the 1910 anthology Yesterday and Tomorrow, containing only a few of the engravings and a text revised by Verne's son, Michel, his literary executor. The Oxford edition isthe first time that Adventures has been published in book form in any language with all of the original illustrations.As Adventures of the Rat Family attests, Verne's writing is far more diverse than his reputation as the father of science fiction suggests. He wrote more than 60 novels, as well as numerous short stories, plays, articles and poems, covering a range of genres and literary forms. He was actually most prolific in the genres of adventure, mystery and comedy.Adventures of the Rat Family deals with evolution, a problematic and controversial idea when the story first appeared in 1891, and one that was surely prohibitive for American publishers. This was especially true since Adventures of the Rat Family was also one of Verne's few stories accessible to a very young audience. However, like many fairy tales, its larger significance requires more sophisticated adult reading.Verne portrays a magical movement up and down the evolutionary ladder, as a close-knit family of rats is transformed into various lower forms of life, from mollusks to birds. The instigator of these deeds is a genie, hired by a cruel prince who desires the family's daughter, although she loves another.Verne both recognizes and mocks the idea of evolution by having his characters change from one species to another, finally making a metamorphosis into men and women. Added amusement isprovided by one cousin who never quite catches up as he makes each transformation, always retaining a feature of his previous incarnation, until finally he has a donkey's tail even afterbecoming a man. Verne had long been interested in evolution and basically accepted the theory. His 1858 play, M. de Chimpanze (untranslated), is of a chimp that readily adapts to high society, and a giant prehistoric man is sighted in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Verne portrays a "missing link" species in his 1901 novel, The Aerial Village, and speculates that the tribe will be incorporated into an imperial colony. "The Humbug" is the story of a P.T. Barnum-like character whose successful hoax convinces New Yorkers that he has unearthed the bones of early man near Albany. By cloaking his use of the evolutionary theme within the fanta