Sadie and Ratz [Paperback]

“A real slice of family life, the sweet with the bitter.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Sadie and Ratz are the names of Hannah’s hands. They aren’t animals, but they behave like wild beasts. For one thing, they’re always after four-year-old Baby Boy. Baby Boy knows how to turn the tables, though, and when he blames Sadie and Ratz for trouble he causes, Hannah may have to send Sadie and Ratz on vacation to prove their innocence. Award- winning author Sonya Hartnett spins a tale for younger readers about mischief, siblings, and taking matters into your own hands.A piercingly intelligent foray into chapter books...for big sisters and Baby Boys adjusting to each other. A real slice of family life, the sweet with the bitter.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Lindgren Award–winner Hartnett has been writing for younger and younger readers in recent years, but whether her audience is teenagers, middle-graders, or now chapter-book readers, she remains willing to expose humanity’s more selfish and destructive tendencies, while handling such themes in a way that’s on-target and appropriate for her audience.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Hartnett adeptly conveys the pain and loneliness of an older sibling facing a monumental moment of change and captures what growing up really means to a child. This joyful choice for reading aloud serves as a discussion starter on coping, acceptance, and maturity, and as an instruction manual on personal narratives. There are myriad ways to appreciate this pitch-perfect story.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

This tale of temper and self-control, told in the first person, is more psychologically sophisticated than is usually found in an early chapter book, but the sensitive drawings and clever book design add significantly to the emotional clarity of Hannah’s journey.
—The Horn Bookls>