#emmy and the incredible shrinking rat

[book--brackets]

[spelllingandthemysteryschool]

yaz have you read the book series emmy and the incredible shrinking rat?? its middlegrade but i feel like you would like it

I HAVE NOT... i love getting to revist middle grade lit though omg i will check it out. i’m also thrilled that this is from 2007 because it means it could have been something i very feasibly could have read in elementary school and yet somehow managed to overlook at the time... i feel like i’ve unearthed a secret treasure 🦪

[nopizzaaftermidnight]

I'd like to know how you picked everyone's names! And more about Dart's region's naming conventions, if you want to explain that too!

Ooh yay! Ok:

You saw a bit of Lily from the comics history. Around 2008, I modeled two characters after two of my real friends. One friend I liked to call Lilypod (I know that's not a real thing, it's lily pad, but that's what I called her, her name wasn't even lily), which is where the character Lily was first created. Years later, I gave NPAM Lily the last name Phillips. It's the last name of my real friend who was Lily's character model!

Champ's first names just came from me needing a gag. Punchline "my dad wanted a dog" brought us "Champ" (I remember searching for dog names that would also work as human names). And then he's named Basil because it was for a joke that wasn't even that funny, "some people's gardens are like their children. I am named for a plant." His middle name, Charles, is a name from my own family (vague for internet safety, sorry). And when I picked out his last name, I had just watched The Great Mouse Detective. I love that movie, and since the main mouse is Basil of Baker street, this led in a roundabout way to his last name being Walters, named for Walt Disney.

Since I accidentally designed Tyler's look way beforehand, I simply picked a first name that seemed to match. I just stole Kandinsky from Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian artist with synesthesia.

Speaking of synesthesia, that's also kinda how I named Sera Sophia. Her vibe is very sunlight yellow, so it had to be a name the same color (so the letter S with E and I were good). In real life, Sera is one of my friends from theater, and actually one of my very first followers, though she's not active on tumby anymore. The Sophia just sounded good with it. I recently gave her Marina for a middle name, because, well, she loves the water. And I wanted her (and her mom's) last name to sound pretty/magical. Hearkening back to LotR, I looked up JRR Tolkein's full name and one of the R's was for Reuel. So I snatched it!

There's this old post about making up mer names. As for Dart's lack of a last name, I'll make a second post about it HERE!

Herriman is named for George Herriman, the creator of an iconic comic called Krazy Kat.

And, actually, the Slug... One of my favorite kid books is Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat. One main character is, in fact, a rat, who is not named (in the first book anyway). I believe sometimes they called him Ratty, but the narration always just said, "the Rat." Just like that, lowercase the, uppercase Rat. I liked it, and actually use that form a lot, including our one-and-only Slug!

We're getting into the background now, but the Grub Guys' names are all related to "Mike" because... well so the first Mike I ever knew had dark hair. In the early teen years, we'd joke that he looked like Wilbur Robinson (from the movie). That sorta hair just became attached to the name, and thus easily applied to the grub guy. But I kept forgetting and so Mark and Matt and other 1-syllable M names are now also just tossed into the Grub family.

[ishipmyotp]

Anyone else read the book "Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat" as a kid?

[jerichomere]

Ok I am si here for the girl whose normal book. I got so sick of 'the special perfect girl' and 'girls who die young and beautiful' tropes Xo

The only good book I can think of for 'just some guy' kinda gal Ia Amelia's journals, geeze, I love those but they are just young light reading (my fave genre)

You got any ideas?

Oh my goodness Amelia’s journals! I actually phone interviewed Marissa Moss in college, and her publishing house is super cool.

As for normal girl books.. hmmm. The question’s context was actually that the patron didn’t know how to say “realistic fiction,” it was just comical that all she knew to ask was for a normal book about a girl.

I’ve read a lot of them in my life I’m sure, but I don’t remember which ones are actually good. In fact, I hardly remember any specifically. I’m more of a fantasy reader, and i just forget about a lot of the realistic fiction I read.

The following have a fantastical element but the main girl isn’t like the chosen one or anything. They’re all jfic or YA

Princess of the Midnight Ball, and Sun and Moon, ice and snow both by Jessica Day George

Into the woods by Lin Gardner (I think that girl was normal? It was a fun amalgamated fairy tale)

Emmy and the incredible shrinking rat (I loved this book in sixth grade. I think it may be weirder than I remember)

Princess academy by Shannon hale (okay, shes a little bit special)

I’d also like to throw out the Every Day trilogy by David Levithan. Some of my favorite writing ever. The first book the narrator is sorta exceptional, but the second book is the same story from the normal girl’s perspective. And th third book is just phenomenal for other reasons.

[nichiperi]

I dunno why, but I have this weird thing where I treat my books kinda like they're stuffed animals or tarot cards or something??? They all have personalities and histories like my decrepit copy of To Kill A Mockingbird that I bought at a yard sale and I blew through the whole thing within a few days during a camping trip and now it is a beloved treasure. Or Emmy And The Incredible Shrinking Rat who I got on a whim at a book fair and always went back to when I needed a pick-me-up. Or my Franz Kafka collection.

He gave me nightmares in middle school.

We haven't been on reading terms in a while.

[mice-rats-daily]

Today’s rat is The Rat from Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat!

[small-strong-bookish-butch]

Compilation of middle grade books I read multiple times, that were just…. weird (in order from least weird (IMO) to weirdest):

Book summaries by me:

Defying stereotypes! A fun book, cute illustrations, I really loved it when I was like, 9

Girl loves whales so much she turns into one (I’m not kidding) (she eventually turns back), wholesome if I remember right

Found family, commoner wanting to meet the beautiful and misunderstood princess, one of my favorite kids’ books, A Lot of wordplay (Love Among the Walnuts is also another really good book by her)

Girl and her sullen friend turn into rodents, meet a lot of other rodents, I don’t remember the plot honestly, but I enjoyed this and the sequel

The Chosen One™️ is…. not? the chosen one, best friend takes her place and goes to an alternate universe London, a lot of linguistics fun and wordplay, highkey about fighting climate change and also umbrellas

I’m gonna be honest, I have no idea what the plot of this was. I know it involved a lot of encounters with The Chicken Man, all the lizards being named Raymond, and being told not to think about a snake (?). So weird. (The author might have been on drugs. It feels like it, from what I remember.) I tried to describe it to my partner last night, and by the end of my description, they said “I have no way to engage with this conversation”, and I was like I have to post about this and see if anyone else (other than my twin) on tumblr has read it

Image descriptions:

1. The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool by Margaret Gray and Randy Cecil. The cover is mostly the princess’ red curly hair, and the fool is on top of it. The background is yellow

2. Isabel of the Whales by Hester Velmans. The cover is light blue and features a small girl next to a big whale

3. Once Upon A Marigold by Jean Ferris. The cover is mostly white, with light blue at the top and light green at the bottom, and there’s a bird carrying a letter on the blue part and a marigold on the green part

4. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonelle with art by Jonathon Bean. The cover is mostly white, and the illustrations are blue and orange. There is a tree at the top of the cover, and a girl smiling and a very large rat in the foreground

5. Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. The cover is mostly scarlet/orange, and has a girl with dark hair holding a book in the foreground, and a church-looking building and a London bus in the background, by the top of the book

6. Lizard Music by D. Manus Pinkwater. The cover is blue, with a brown haired boy sitting looking at a TV with a lot of lizards around him

/end descriptions

[backlogbooks]

JOMP BPC | Day 4 | Precious Cinnamon Roll

while the rat in this video is /not/ a precious cinnamon roll, the MC & girl who’s catching him at the end totally is

[book--brackets]

[goodbooksgoodcoffee]

*part of “books of my childhood series” but you can enjoy no matter your age*

book: Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat

author: Lynne Jonell

status: past(way past😂) read

description as per google books:

“When Emmy discovers that she and her formerly loving parents are being drugged by their evil nanny with rodent potions that can change people in frightening ways, she and some new friends must try everything possible to return things to normal”

personal take: I read this book for the first time when I was really young but I have re read it as I’ve gotten older and it’s still an amazing book (it’s actually part of a trilogy I’ve also read) but as I said I might post some other books that’s are geared around the young adult age that really are timeless stories!!

[hometownrockstar]

it makes me sick how many people who, when they say they enjoy "underdog heroes", are referring to things such as Underdog (2007), and not the countless cats and rats who are continuously villainized in every animal-related children's media out there. if you didnt cheer on the villains of Cats & Dogs (2001) solely because you wanted to see the cats win for once, then i want nothing to do with you

[isfjmel-phleg]

July 2022 Books

The Castle of Tangled Magic by Sophie Anderson

I wanted to like this one. The inspiration from Russian fairy tales sounded promising! But I didn’t care for the story, which I couldn’t connect with. And the protagonist is a member of a formerly royal family whose apparent response to a revolution many years ago was to immediately and presumably peacefully surrender their status and take up a trade. The nature of this revolution is never made clear, but the protagonist sees her family’s royal past as something to be ashamed of, something she must compensate to others for. And knowing what I do of actual Russian history, this just...didn’t sit well with me.

The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate

Though perhaps not as profound (in a children’s-book way) as its predecessor, this one was charming. Applegate is good at creating animal protagonists who are anthropomorphized enough to bond with but also believable as their species.

Wreck at Ada’s Reef by Michael D. Beil

Some interesting mystery elements, but I didn’t care for the protagonist/narrator and had some content issues.

The Ghost Garden by Emma Carroll

Probably the best historical fiction of this month. My only fault with it is how very short it was! It felt more like the beginning of a series or at least a longer book--which regrettably doesn’t exist.

The Turnaway Girls by Hayley Chewins

Gorgeous prose. Did not care for the story at all.

The Gilded Girl and The Tarnished Garden by Alyssa Colman

“A Little Princess but set in New York with magic” is in theory an interesting premise, but the execution didn’t convincingly portray the period in which it was set.

SPOILERS also can we please have an adaptation or retelling of ALP where her father stays dead? It’s important thematically that this be the case.

The Tarnished Garden, despite its title, has very little connection to The Secret Garden and is more a direct sequel to The Gilded Girl, with similar unconvincing portrayal of turn-of-the-century society.

Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life by Kathleen Dalton

Read this as a counterpoint to McCullough’s biography. I liked Dalton’s perspective better--more balanced, less hagiographic without being a hatchet job. And she doesn’t dismiss asthma as purely psychological or manipulative. But my goodness, I feel for this family--the patterns of problematic parenting, the influence of the culture of muscular Christianity that led to self-loathing and insecurity for anyone who didn’t measure up. TR seems to have spent most of his life running from chronic illness, constructing an image of himself directly at odds with that, and pushing himself incredibly hard, which might have had something to do with his relatively early death at age sixty.

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (reread)

I had forgotten how poignant this one is.

The Einsteins of Vista Point by Ben Guterson

A mystery with some supernatural elements. I especially enjoyed the family relationship--the sibling interactions, the running inside jokes--all quite believable. The book and the characters are in the spirit of classic children’s summertime adventure stories (the protagonist is even reading a series that appears to be an alternate version of the Swallows and Amazons books).

Very Rich by Polly Horvath

Bizarre and I have no idea what to make of it.

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

Light-hearted and charming, with some surprising depth.

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume 1 (Charmed Life and The Lives of Christopher Chant) by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Always enjoyable to revisit.

The Plentiful Darkness by Heather Kassner

Plenty of elegant prose and atmosphericness, but I was disoriented by the world and detached from the characters.

The Edge of In Between by Lorelei Savaryn

I wanted to love this one. A retelling of The Secret Garden by a Christian (Catholic) author? So much potential. She even begins the book with an epigram from The Great Divorce!

...but the other epigram was “If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden,” attributed to The Secret Garden. Not Burnett directly, but still vague. It’s not from the book. It’s from the 1993 film. That should have told me that this book was about to complete misunderstand its inspiration.

Savaryn is telling a story about grief, the terrible lengths to which people can go to deal with it, and finding hope. Completely valid themes. Interesting concepts (it’s set in a world where people can literally lose their color). Beautiful prose. It just doesn’t work for me as a retelling of The Secret Garden.

Equivalents of the characters are present. The basic story beats still happen. But Saveryn really builds on that “whole world is a garden” thing rather than any of Burnett’s actual themes. As I’ve addressed elsewhere, The Secret Garden is about healing from emotional neglect. It’s about the detrimental effects that being raised in such an environment has on children and how healing can be found through connection, through caring for something. This is the heart of the story, and this is what needs to be present in any adaptation or retelling.

For instance, Ellen Potter’s The Humming Room, which retells The Secret Garden in the present day in the Thousand Islands region of New York, makes a lot of changes to the story and characters but has at its center the Mary analogue’s arc from detachment after a unstable and loveless upbringing to being able to connect with and help others, as well as accepting herself. This converses well with Burnett’s themes, and the retelling works.

The Edge of In Between doesn’t do this.

It opens with the Mary analogue enjoying her happy life with her wonderful, attentive parents. She’s creative, sensitive, and compassionate--quite likeable. But she’s devastated when her parents die and becomes withdrawn, cynical, and desperate to somehow get them back. There’s even an occasion or two where she explodes in a tantrum, which comes across as more obligatory because of the source material than authentic to the character Savaryn establishes. This is a very different character from Mary, with a completely different arc--which would be fine, but for a retelling there needs to be continuity. The Colin analogue is likewise suffering from bereavement and is introduced with some very on-the-nose dialogue about his estrangement from his father. Like a lot of the characters, he comes across more like an embodiment of something than an individual. 

Saveryn’s story is very theme-heavy, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case it comes at the cost of believable characters and the retelling in general. The themes and characterization are so far removed from those of the original that it should have been presented as its own story with a few vaguely Secret Garden-inspired elements than as a retelling. Despite its heavy-handed themes, it’s not a poorly-told story, but it’s so completely removed from Burnett in spirit that I found it more disappointing than enjoyable.

Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times by Emma Trevayne

Some very interesting concepts but didn’t seem fully developed. I was left more disoriented than satisfied by the end.

Meet Kit; Kit Learns a Lesson; Kit’s Surprise; Happy Birthday, Kit!; Kit Saves the Day; Changes for Kit; Really, Truly Ruthie; and Kit’s Short Story Collection by Valerie Tripp (reread)

Already addressed here!

Childhood at Court 1819-1914 by John Van der Kiste

This is the kind of information I’m looking for in researching royalty from this era! Very useful and interesting.

Leave It to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse (reread)

I think we all know how I feel about this book.

[trainwreckgenerator]

Emmy and the incredible shrinking rat (the first one in the series) was one of my favorite books as a kid if only bc in the margins there was a little drawing of the rat that was like a little flip book animation!!

AW!! thats one of the things i love about the first emily the strange book too :) its the little things that show thought and care huh

[mitsybubbles]

Where did the inspiration for your ocs come from

Several things!! Sylvia used to be my warrior cats oc from 5th grade lol. Her name was Silverpool. I just updated her cause I felt nostalgic. I mixed in several aesthetics I liked into her. Uhh Miranda was based from my love for coming of age stories, I’ve always loved stories about kids overcoming obstacles and living in worlds that were dangerous, but also atmospheric and intresting. Ones that come to mind are like studio ghibli movies, over the garden wall, steven universe, professor layton, emmy and the incredible shrinking rat, coraline and a *lot* of others. She’s also based off my little cousins and own life experiences! ^^  River was originally a “generic courier” that I used for memes and to play the game. Uhhh then I wanted to develop him as a character for this au and it all spiraled from there. He’s has a bit of influence from Adora from She Ra but for the most part he’s mostly just the amalgamation from a year’s worth of little in jokes turning into characterization. Ramona was inspired from Eda and Lilth from the Owl House and Sigorney Weaver from Holes. I’m just gonna be frank loll. She’s River’s parallel so I wanted them to compliment each other in terms of personality so I guess that also counts as an inspiration? lol Bina was an oc I had for a long time, she was based off my own life experiences and also from Kosuzu and Akyuu in touhou!

[catmeme-moved]

paper n sweetheart!!!

paper - favorite children’s book?

ogh god...i barely remember any books i read as a child. the only 2 that come to mind are Unexplained, the one that ignited my fear of mothman, and emmy and the incredible shrinking rat. i must’ve checked that out of my middle school library at least once a month!!

sweetheart - favorite mug/cup?

a mug my grandma gave me when i first moved to college ! it’s from the 80′s, it’s white w a bright half rainbow on it. it was a set of 2, she kept one and gave me the other so that we could “share coffees even if we weren’t together” and after she passed my family decided i should keep the other one too :”)