Review of RAT by Jan Cheripko

RAT by Jan Cheripko

Are you a basketball fan? If not, you will be after you read RAT. If you are, you’ll be calling plays right alongside Coach and Jeremy Chandler, aka RAT, a nicknaname given to him by Simpson, the team bully. This nickname is two-fold— One, fifteen-year-old Jeremy loves basketball and spends most of his time in the gym, thus the “Gym Rat” connotation. And two, because Jeremy witnesses a coach molesting a cheerleader and testified to what he saw, the basketball players call him “Rat.” 

Of course all bullies have a hidden reason in their backgrounds that makes them act mean to others, and by the time you reach the end of the book you will discover what makes Simpson tick, or explode, as the case may be. And your understanding of Jeremy grows exponentially, just as he does, as he learns that you can have friends and be true to yourself, while telling the truth.

Cheripko, the master of metaphors, entwines the stories of a cast of high school characters with the realistic life stories of adults with their own shortcomings. Family relationships between parents and their angst-ridden teen children are portrayed realistically.

The reader believes this is a book has boy appeal, especially for the reluctant reader. Jan Cheripko belongs to the KIDLIT, INK marketing group for published authors of Children’s Literature.