Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique: Even more powerfully, and timely in 2019, is the rejection of authoritarianism that doesn't care about individuals or negotiation. It also shows what happens when an ingenious writer doesn´t just write for young audiences from the beginning of his career, but decides to give it a try after having written extremely complex and subtle fantastic comedy for adults over decades. It´s wonderful, it´s kind of even denser than the Discworld, because there are no longer introspections, dialogues, and philosophizing about ethics, morality, and the nature of good and evil, just easy fun and entertainment.

Gosh, really,’ said Maurice, wondering if there were any more fish-heads and, if there were any more fish-heads, whether they were worth all this. Pratchett won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best children's book published in the U.K. [2] It was his first major award. [1] Series [ edit ] For super-fast broadband, members can enjoy a contract-free connection with a NOW Brilliant Broadband, Fab Fibre or Super Fibre Membership. Which turned out to be Mr Vogel the town clerk and Mrs Schuman the shoemaker’s wife, who happened to be there merely because of their shared interest in studying the habits of barn owls …’Maurice is blessedly short on fart jokes* and long on Pratchett's brand of homespun philosophical irony. Maurice and his educated rodents were previously mentioned in the eleventh Discworld novel, Reaper Man (1991), although the characters in that novel are aware of the fraud perpetrated by Maurice and the rats. [4] Plot summary [ edit ]

The Amazing Maurice had its premiere at the Manchester Animation Festival on 13 November 2022, and was released in United Kingdom on 16 December, by Sky Cinema. It is set to be released in the United States by Viva Pictures on 3 February 2023, after being delayed from a 13 January 2023 release. [13] [14] It had its American premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. [15] Home media [ edit ]Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. In 1987, he turned to writing full time. Byrnes, Paul (10 January 2023). "Stars turn Terry Pratchett's satire into a fast and furry-ous comedy". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 30 June 2023. Well, I have definitely learned a lot about rats. I have mixed feelings about this book. Terry Pratchett is usually SO GOOD at mixing light-hearted silliness with a more macabre subject matter, but this time something felt a little… off. The rats are great at first, a nice blend of ratty grossness and the angst that comes with sudden enlightenment… or puberty. The rat characters are well-developed and as authentic as a bunch of talking rats can be. Maurice the cat is also a wonderful character. Terry Pratchett really knows how to write a kids book. I would have devoured this thing when I was a lad. Maurice and the rats are good characters, as is Keith, the aforementioned stupid-looking kid. The origin of Maurice and the rats' intelligence was fairly well done. Hell, it's a fantasy story. How much explanation do you need? Pratchett took the classic story of the pied piper and Discworld-ed it up with questions of philosophy, destiny, and leadership. And rat-kings. I very much enjoyed Terry Pratchett’s first foray into young adult literature. I know he’s written a handful of YA books (many of them also set in the Discworld), but I wish he had written more. He was very good at it!

In Dec. of 2007, Pratchett disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. On 18 Feb, 2009, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. One of my all-time favorite books along with Pratchett's Thief of Time, Nation, and his outstanding Tiffany Aching series beginning with The Wee Free Men. The book opens with Amazing Maurice (a sentient cat), a group of talking rats (the Clan), and the human boy Keith travelling in a mail coach to a small town called Bad Blintz. The group plans to enact a scheme they have used many times before, where in the rats pretend to infest the town and Keith poses as a rat piper to lead the "vermin" away for a small sum of cash. Although Maurice sees nothing wrong with this hustling business, the rats find it immoral, and convince Maurice that this town will be the last one they rob. Upon arriving in town, the group discovers that the people are convinced of a massive rat infestation, and have spent much of their savings on two rat catchers. Despite their efforts, food continues to disappear from the town. As the rats move into the town's underground, they discover an overwhelmingly large number of rat traps, but no live keekees (rats who cannot talk or think). Aboveground, Maurice makes similar observations, including that many of the rat tails the rat catchers display as proof of their successful hunting are in fact shoelaces. Maurice and Keith meet the mayor's daughter Malicia and introduce her to the talking rats. He was quite plump for a rat, but when his feet were dancing he could float across the floor like a balloon. Also, I got fuddled with this book in the middle section, trying to figure out whether it’s really meant to be a children’s story or a weird children’s-story-for-adults thing. There are some very very oblique sexual references having to do with the more enlightened rats, and some other things that threw me off. Perhaps it’s that the rats are not quite “Mr. Bunnsy” enough for children- they walk and talk like story-book creatures, but they still pee on everything and eat each other and commit little ratty murders. And that’s troublesome. It’s also troublesome that the rats talk about philosophy, clearly not something we want children exposed to. I guess the easy-reading laugh-a-minute feel of most of the discworld books got diluted somehow in this one.

New in Series

The rats of the Clan feel it too, and many become so afraid that they all but forget how to think and reason. The Amazing Maurice’ is the first animated feature film to be based on a Terry Pratchett novel – ‘ The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents’. The novel was the 28th in the Discworld® series and the first primarily written for a younger audience, winning the Carnegie Medal in 2001. novel in the Discworld ® series, but the first written for children. The Amazing Maurice is a lively and entertaining adventure inspired by the German fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin and a parody of the folk tale genre. Pratchett won the annual Carnegie Medal for the book – children’s literature’s highest award. Despite many other awards, honorary degrees and the knighthood that followed, Sir Terry Pratchett always emphasised that this was the award of which he was most proud.

Maurice watched them argue again. Humans, eh? Think they’re lords of creation. Not like us cats. We know we are. Ever see a cat feed a human? Case proven. He tried to make a face which said Don’t be a complete twerp, OK? which is quite hard to do with a cat’s head. Darktan, the rats' trap expert, leads a group to rescue Hamnpork, and succeeds after nearly dying in a trap.Even the dumb-looking piper kid is starting to give Maurice static about scamming the populace with their fake plague of rats. Narrativia’s managing director Rob Wilkins, the late Pratchett’s friend and assistant, said that “bringing Maurice’s story to life was such a joy for Terry”, and expressed his delight that the production companies were “honouring his vision with such reverence and respect”. This animated family film is produced with Narrativia, the independent production company set up by the author in 2012 and is a co-production between Cantilever Media and Ulysses Filmproduktion for Sky Cinema. The rodents in Terry Prachett's Maurice and his Educated Rodents are - D'oh! Sorry, Maurice! The AMAZING Maurice and his Educated Rodents- anthropomorphized. But they are not slaves to the morality of man. They've got, as Richard Adams would say, dignity and animality all their own. They were seeking understanding of themselves and each other. I never cared much for definitions such as "allegory" or "fables". I care about "ring of truth" (if I think too much about types of stories I get confused and start labelling everything). Same goes for satire. Pratchett's satire would still be good if the things he was satirizing didn't exist. I wish all who wrote that would use that as their bench mark of success... Would it matter if you didn't know who it was? What they did? I don't really care that they are rats. Pratchett sure didn't. It was probably that that made their society and feeling of bonds (man, rat, whatever) feel... well, feel. No stupid Lugini tried to force rules on them. I appreciate that the Brothers Grimm are the Sisters Grim on the Discworld, being a handy allusion to the fact that many folktales and fables were passed down by generations of women before men decided to put them in a book and be forever known as their “authors.”