About the Author:
Eric A. Kimmel has published more than fifty children's books, many of which have won state awards and appeared on school and library recommended lists. He has won the National Jewish Book Award for numerous books, including Hanukkah Bear and The Mysterious Guest: A Sukkot Story, and the Sydney Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Mordicai Gerstein is a painter, sculptor, designer, and director of animated films. However, he is probably best known as a Caldecott Medal-winning children's book author and illustrator. In addition to The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, his books include The White Ram and A Book. He lives in western Massachusetts.
From Booklist:
PreS-Gr. 2. In feudal Japan, a daimyo (powerful lord) is humiliated when a greedy, bullying rat takes over his castle, eats his food, and intimidates everyone. The daimyo seeks help from a shrine famous for training samurai cats. Two magnificent feline warriors arrive, but the rat effortlessly overpowers them. Desperate, the lord requests the toughest cat of all, and he is surprised when scrawny, aged Neko Roshi hobbles in. He is even more surprised when the cat refuses the rat's invitations to fight. As time passes, the rat's behavior grows more egregious, but Neko Roshi ignores the rodent--until it finally traps itself and leaves the castle defeated. Kimmel tempers the folktale's heavy message about passive resistance with humorous, perfectly paced language that is ideal for read-alouds, and the characters in Gerstein's colorful, detailed drawings are irresistible--the saggy-jowled hound in robes; the buffoonish, wildly costumed daimyo bulldog; the scruffy, shrunken Neko Roshi; and, best of all, the pot-bellied, gleefully wicked "barbarous rat," who is more comic foil than villain. An author's note offers some historical background and sources. Gillian Engberg
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