ALA Booklist (Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

Five "bad" rats, kicked to the curb for their guileless, inattentive behavior, are due for instruction by Professor Perimeter. With wide eyes, two rats question their badness, and learn that their aspirations for art and music represent dangerous pursuits; as a young rat, Perimeter himself nearly met a tragic end through just such folly. While the professor intends to school his pupils in darkness and deliberation, he learns much from his innocent charges, who teach him about the beauty of imagination. The spare compositions and the somber palette of mushroomy grays are enlivened with dollops of color that represent the twinklings of the young rats' reveries. Produced by the author, a sometime thespian, the accompanying audio CD comprises a narration of the story framed by Perimeter's addresses to the audience. The over-the-top performance relishes the professor's villainy and the student rodents' sweetness in a way sure to charm creative dreamers of every stripe.

Kirkus Reviews

Heart wins over Head in this nearly plotless fable that seems designed for adult sensibilities, rather than children's. Dubbed "bad" because one wants to paint, one to sing and one to dance, three rats are sent to stern Professor Perimeter to have their attentions refocused on mere survival, like "good" rats. Their performances, however, cause the Professor to recall his own youth—"He saw beyond the walls he'd built, beyond the world he'd known, and deep into the imagination he'd once possessed"—and to upgrade his students from Bad to " Exceptional ." In his soft-toned illustrations, Muscarello dresses the Professor in a vest, provides smudges of paint or articles of clothing to distinguish each of the three young artists and places all in a minimally detailed curbside setting. An enclosed CD includes both a dramatization with an original soundtrack and (lest any aspect of the Lesson go unexplained) a lecture. Any promotion of the arts is worthwhile, but the main character here is the grown-up. (Picture book. Adult)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In thoughtful prose, Drachman (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Leo the Lightning Bug) delivers readers to a school for Bad Rats, where the repressive Professor Perimeter explains to his pupils, “You are bad because you follow your heart and not your mind. Our minds make things neat and our hearts are messy.” Though each of the rats dreams of becoming an artist, Perimeter teaches them to abandon their creativity in favor of scurrying and hiding, until at last he rediscovers his own messy heart and strolls off into the sunset. Sepia and gray tones predominate in Muscarello's illustrations, softly rendered in charcoal, ink and watercolor; but his muted palette gives way to color as the mood of the text changes. The accompanying CD is in some ways better than the book, as the extensive dialogue lends itself to Drachman's considerable talents as a performer; moreover, the CD moves slowly enough to allow new readers to follow along. Ages 4–8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(June)

School Library Journal (Thu May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

PreS-Gr 3 Five little rats have been labeled as bad rats and must take lessons from the strict and somewhat pompous Professor Perimeter. He is an older rat who knows his business, which is keeping young rats safe by teaching them to conform. The young rats, however, don't wish to give up their dreams. They don't want to hide, and scurry, and stay safe. They want to paint, and sing, and dance. When Professor Perimeter sees them in action, his heart is touched and he recognizes that they're not "bad." They are "exceptional." He no longer seeks to stifle their creativity. This book (Kidwick Books, 2008) by Eric Drachman has a clear message about celebrating individuality. The accompanying CD is more of a performance than a reading, with an introduction by the author, using two voices, and a conclusion in the same vein, that examines some aspects of the tale. The story itself is performed by the author and several other people; sound effects and some original music augment the telling. The production is nicely done, and children will enjoy listening to the slightly wordy text while perusing the soft pastel illustrations by James Muscarello. Still, one might wonder why the little rats couldn't be both safe and creative Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA