Cheese Belongs to You!

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From award-winning picture-book-makers Viviane Schwarz and Alexis Deacon comes a story about the struggle for dominance over one piece of cheese... Rat law is simple: if you take a piece of cheese, it belongs to you. So if a bigger rat takes it ... then cheese belongs to them. Unless ... a quicker rat swipes it! Every rat knows rat law: if you are big or quick, strong or scary, hairy or dirty, or, indeed, all of the above, you get the cheese. But just who gets to EAT the cheese? More hilarious and innovative storytelling from the brilliant creative duo behind A Place to Call Home. This cumulative text will have readers zooming through the pages at lightning speed ... and clamouring for repeats!

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

"This is rat law," opens this cheerful hymn to venality. "Cheese belongs to you." (The omission of the definite article is, presumably, what a rat accent sounds like.) Schwarz (who previously worked with Deacon on A Place to Call Home) draws a dainty little rat with a bow tied around its tail jumping back in delight at the sight of a block of yellowy Swiss cheese. "Unless a big rat wants it," Deacon continues sternly, as a larger rat moves the first one out of the way. "Then cheese belongs to him." The text appears in authoritative block type above Schwarz's softly crayoned drawings of progressively larger and more domineering "quick, strong, scary, hairy, dirty" rats arguing, stealing, scheming, and chortling their way through the slowly building discourse on rat realpolitik. An all-out, rat-on-rat war erupts between a crew of slovenly pirate rats and a gang of top-hatted gangster rats, while the original rat finds a way to become the big cheese, so to speak. In the end, thankfully, civility prevails. Not since Ratatouille have rats been so unnerving yet gleefully entertaining. Ages 4-6. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-This cumulative tale about a pack of rats vying, in Darwinian fashion, for some cheese is a zany riff on the familiar "mouse takes the cheese" refrain. A sweet little rat, bow tied on her tail, runs headlong into some cheese, which, by rat law, belongs to her. But she is one-upped by a bigger rat, which is one-upped by an even bigger rat, and so on as quicker, stronger, hairier, dirtier, and scarier gangs of rats all dominate in their conquest of the cheese. Ultimately, these selfish interests lead to the rats' collective implosion, and the cheese once more belongs to.the little rat, and she offers to share it with everyone. A peaceable feast ensues. Pencil and digitally colored drawings, rendered in muted shades of red and blue, portray dozens of individual rodents in endless, hilarious detail. A bright yellow digital photograph of the coveted piece of Swiss cheese rounds out the primary-color palette, lending a visual focal point to the artwork on every spread. The large font stands in bold counterpoint to the finely wrought illustrations. With its spare, repetitive language, oddball humor, and just enough "ick" factor, this tale is sure to entertain young children in a group read-aloud while offering a satisfying lesson on the value of sharing.-Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Rat law is simple: if you find the cheese, then it belongs to you. Unless someone bigger, quicker, hairier, or scarier wants it then the cheese belongs to them. If all the other rats exhaust themselves fighting over the cheese, then the cheese belongs to a kind rat who is willing to share. The text starts slowly and then builds on itself, until readers are left breathless after each long sentence. The illustrations clearly show how each rat is different and more terrifying than the last and are sure to produce squeals of fright and delight from readers. Surprisingly, there is a great lesson about sharing tucked neatly into the last pages, which gives this silly story a little extra heart. For a storytime that is sure to leave the librarian breathless, pair with There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, by Simms Taback (1997). Any way that a young reader experiences this book, whether during individual reading or in a group, this will be fun.--Erickson, Tiffany Copyright 2010 Booklist

Horn Book Review

According to "Rat Law," the cheese belongs to you--unless a quicker, stronger, scary, etc. rat wants it. Thus begins the cumulative tale of adjectives building to the "boss of the biggest, quickest, strongest, scariest, hairiest, dirtiest rats" who's in charge of the cheese. (Unless...) Humorous digitally colored red-pencil sketches of thieving white rats carry the tale in which manners ultimately prevail. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Who knew cheese ownership could be so dangerous? This edgy picture-book primer on "rat law" begins simply enough: An expressively sketched rat with a bow on its tail contemplates a big wedge of bright orange Swiss cheese, displayed as a cutout photograph. It turns out that rat law has a number of exceptions: "Cheese belongs to you. // Unless a big rat wants it. Then cheese belongs to him. / Unless a bigger rat wants it. Then cheese belongs to her." One or more hungry rats is added as the pages turn, until entire gangs of nasty, bullying beasts mob the spreads. By the time "the biggest gang of the biggest, quickest, strongest, scariest, hairiest, dirtiest rat wants it," the book--sketched mostly in red pencil--swarms with teeth, claws and angry red eyes. The faint of heart may be too repelled by the revolting rats to keep reading, but it's a rare child who wouldn't be familiar with the aggressive thievery demonstrated here. The giant typeface, the cumulative nature of the fast-building list of adjectives, and the "spot the bow-tailed rat" game that's built in as the rats accumulate make this bold picture book a potentially hilarious read-aloud. Moral seekers, fear not: After the carnage, it is suggested that sharing cheese might be a more civilized option. An amusingly ferocious illustration of the benefits of sharing from the team behind the equally rodent-infested A Place to Call Home. (Picture book. 4-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.