SuitabookRatty’s Big Adventure
Lara Hawthorne
- Reading
- Read the adventure first, pausing to explore the illustrations and Ratty’s changing expectations. Then use the factual spreads and map to separate imagined story elements from information about Mount Bosavi.
- Themes
- Curiosity and the lure of elsewhere: Ratty imagines that food, birds and animals outside his crater will be better, then leaves to investigate. The story presents exploration as exciting but also more difficult and dangerous than Ratty expects; returning home brings a changed appreciation of what he already has.
- Wildlife and scientific discovery: The story is inspired by Mount Bosavi and is accompanied by information about the woolly rat, researchers’ journey and other animals. The factual sections provide an informational angle on a distinctive habitat and its wildlife, alongside the fictional adventure.
- Unexpected danger: Ratty’s route includes a dark cave, fast water and a crocodile’s apparently friendly invitation to dinner, followed by assistance from bats. The book presents competing or mixed signals about this.
- Worth knowing
- A parent may wish to prepare for a tense encounter: Ratty is swept away, travels through fast water and receives an apparently friendly crocodile’s invitation to dinner before escaping with help.