Kira and the Rat Queen

Jason R. James's Kira and the Rat Queen is a swashbuckling fantasy for 9 year olds about a pink-haired girl who's determined to rescue her dad.

What happens

Kira's mum and dad have been taken. To get them back, Kira has gone through a portal into another world, and she's just found out her dad has been sold to the Rat Queen. Nobody knows much about the Rat Queen, except that everyone says she's crazy.

Thank goodness Kira isn't on her own. There's Ben, who she thought was a knight but turns out to be a cook (a very hungry one). There's Fred, the kindest zombie you'll ever meet, who happens to be a vegetarian. And there's Snugg, her teddy bear, who can walk and talk and fight like a tiger when he needs to.

It opens with a nightmare, and it's a creepy one. Kira's birthday party turns into a flood of rats pouring out of a piñata. The girl who's always been meanest to her at school turns into the Rat Queen, and the rats carry her mum and dad away. It's only a dream, but it's vivid!

After that it's a proper adventure. Fred gives Kira sword lessons every morning, and she turns out to be a natural. There's a fight with three steam bandits at a farm, where Snugg launches himself at a man's face. Then they meet Chloe, a farm girl who's happy to take on grown men with a frying pan.

It's lovely how much of Kira's dad is in it. She remembers him cooking Sunday pancakes and calling her Sweets. She remembers him telling her that pushing someone over solves nothing, but if anyone ever tries to hurt her or her friends, she should fight and win. When is it right to stand up and fight? That's a good one to chat about afterwards.

A quick heads-up for anyone who can't stand rats. In that dream they swarm over everyone, and a bandit comes out of the farm fight with a bloody, swollen face. That's as rough as the opening gets, but a child with a real fear of rats might find chapter one hard going.

For a reader who likes a heroine who's small and scared and brave anyway, Kira is great company.

What to read next

Kira's story started before this one, so it's worth going back to Kira the Rainbow Princess first. That's where she's standing at the front of the class in the spelling bee, shaking in her shoes, with Sophia Masters waiting for her to slip up.