When Malcolm (a smaller than average rat) arrives as the fifth grade pet at McKenna School, he revels in the attention, the Pop-Tart crumbs, and his new Comf-E-Cube. He also meets the Midnight Academy, a secret society of classroom pets that keeps the nutters (kids) out of trouble. After all, everybody knows "a lot happens in a school when the teachers aren't looking." ( )

Devoured in a day. Impressive laying of plot-groundwork in this mystery. Animal illustrations gorgeous, as expected of Brian Lies of Bats at the Beach fame. Excellent dialogue and rich atmosphere--we get to know the school intimately through Malcolm's nose, ears, and over-gnawed whiskers.

Regrettably, the primary antagonist is a cat--but though a villain, she's a tragic one.

Will definitely recommend to my library patrons! ( )

Malcolm at Midnight is too cute! The story starts out with poor Malcolm at the pet store who is about to become food for someone's snake but has been spared because of his demure size. He is taken to a 5th grade classroom (horrors!) where
he becomes a class pet and then meets the Midnight Academy made up of all the other class pets. The Midnight Academy looks after the school and tries to protect all its members. There is a fish who spells out in pebbles messages, a backstabbing rabbit, an iguana who wears cheater glasses left by the Librarian, a turtle, mice, three chicks and a nasty cat named Snip. Wonderful illustrations by Brian Lies make this a really fun read. Malcolm doesn't like the fact that everyone thinks rats are evil after listening to the other animals and reading A Tale of Despereaux. He gets so bothered by this that he breaks the number one rule of the club- never talk to humans and then Aggy the Iguana leader goes missing. This would be a great family read and older kids will appreciate the narrative delivery to their teacher using new vocabulary words. ( )

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