Books with title The Christmas Rat

It’s the week before Christmas, and Eric is already bored with his vacation. His parents have to work, his friends are out of town, and the city is snowed under. Then he opens his apartment door for an exterminator, and is dragged into the adventure of his life. Anje Gabrail carries a crossbow and lives for his work. When he discovers a rat in the basement of Eric’s apartment building, he asks the boy to help him kill it. At first Eric agrees, after all, he doesn’t have anything better to do. But as the week progresses, Eric finds himself in a fight to save not only the rat but himself as well. Avi delivers an unusual story full of the magic of Christmas. Narrator Jeff Woodman’s stirring rendition perfectly captures both Eric’s confusion and his growing sense of purpose as he confronts an angel in a most unlikely form.

A boy, a rat, and an exterminator -- three players in a game of survival. Christmas vacation is supposed to be a blast. Or so Eric thinks. But with all his friends either sick in bed or out of town, Eric's getting more bored by the hour. Then he meets Anje Gabrail, exterminator. Anje's got all the normal stuff an exterminator needs -- roach powders and smoke bombs -- but he also carries some extra equipment: a crossbow and metal-tipped arrows that can penetrate concrete walls and will annihilate any creature with which they come in contact. Anje's number one target? Rats. To Eric, this guy is creepy but fascinating. So, with nothing better to do, he joins Anje on a mission to destroy the rat living in the basement of his apartment building. But as Christmas Day draws nearer and the temperature outside keeps dropping, things in the basement go from weird to deadly. And Eric learns how valuable life truly is.

He is one weird Christmas visitor -- his hair and moustache an unearthly white-blond, his voice a gruff rumble. He fills the apartment doorway. From two metal cases he produces what a boy would expect from an exterminator: Toxic roach powders and poisonous fog bombs. But a crossbow? Eric is fascinated at first. He's been bored this snowbound vacation, and has already zapped about a zillion Zergs. Antsy, he's even sneaked a look at the Christmas presents hidden beneath his parents' bed. Then Anje Gabrail, this exterminator, appears, talking a little madly about his war against rats -- about killing them. "The worst," Anje says. And if Eric sees one in the Eden Apartments, he is to call Anje's twenty-four-hour cell phone immediately. Later that Monday, the fourth day before Christmas, a rat does appear in the building's basement -- and Eric finds himself suddenly, frighteningly swept into Anje's vengeful army. As either partner...or victim. With only a flashlight.

It's the week before Christmas, and Eric is already bored with his vacation. His parents have to work, his friends are out of town, and the city is snowed under. Then he opens his apartment door for an exterminator, and is dragged into the adventure of his life. Anje Gabrail carries a crossbow and lives for his work. When he discovers a rat in the basement of Eric's apartment building, he asks the boy to help him kill it. At first Eric agrees, after all, he doesn't have anything better to do. But as the week progresses, Eric finds himself in a fight to save not only the rat but himself as well. Avi delivers an unusual story full of the magic of Christmas. Narrator Jeff Woodman's stirring rendition perfectly captures both Eric's confusion and his growing sense of purpose as he confronts an angel in a most unlikely form.