I appreciate the ARC from Common Deer Press.

I loved reading and recommending this book to our library patrons. Excellent development of character, interesting twists on highly relatable themes, motivations were honest and impactful.

Overall, this read is suitable for both classrooms, family and even a nice weekend solo read!

this was a really well done book, the characters were what I looked for in this type of book. The world was interesting and I enjoyed the political undertone in the book.

I wil begin by thanking NetGalley and Common Deer Press for the opportunity to read "The Great & the Small".

In this book we follow Fin, the nephew of Papa, the Chairman of a rat colony in the tunnels below a market, as he navigates the Upper and Lower Tunnels of his home while trying to find a place for himself.
Another POV we get is from Ananda Blake, a young girl who likes to draw and has a soft spot for all creatures. She is conflicted between listening to her heart and her ever-growing guilt born from not following the unwritten rules her father and the rest of society applies.

This dystopian middlegrade novel focuses on what would happen if the rats swore vengeance on the two-legs for all the experimentations done on them, the killings and all the persecution aimed at them for centuries. Their answer: a Gift from the Old Ones.

Content warning: experimentation on animals, violence, mutilation, death.

I really enjoyed reading this book! We have powerful lessons baked in here, like: every action has a consequence, things aren't always as they present themselves to be, the weight of lives is not quantifiable, the worth of a martyr, forgiveness, what a leader means.

The author implemented for each chapter a quote from different sources that corespond with the overall feel of the chapter, or are meant to summarise the idea presented in it. I loved it! >..< This little detail adds a lot and makes it a bigger discussion than just sticking to the story would have done.
I only have a small complaint, the paralel drawn between Papa and a certain individual was too in-your-face even for a younger audience. We also had the paralel between the way in which the colony is governed and a certain political regime. I believe only one of them would have been enough, preferably the second.

When it comes to the characters, Fin is well realised and perfectly molded to show us how a nephew of a person like Papa would act. I LOVED the fact that he never crossed the line to hate and discard all his past and feelings like some authors like to implement in their protagonists.
Fin loves his uncle, and is loved in return, even though Papa is certainly not without motif and intentions for caring for him.Fin is also conflicted and angered by his inability to reconciliate the side of him that aknowledges kindness and compassion, to the side full of hurt and hate. More so, he is selfish and forgetful when it comes to all the priviledges he has. He is a terrible friend to Scratch.

Ananda wasn't as developed as Fin,but her fear and inner battle with what is supposed to be right was nicely done. She acts her age, she is brave upfront although she is scared (the fountain incident), she feels guilt over someone who hurt her, she lies for what she thinks is right, and is a moody child with her parents.

Scratch and Zumi are representatives of the common people, who fight and stand up to what they believe is ok. As brothers, they oppose each other in almost everything, except caring despite knowing better. While Zumi is perceptive, smart and stubborn in her ways, Scratch is naive and tries his best to be accepted in hopes of finally finding a place where he belongs.

Another notable character is Papa. A.T.Balsara chose well when creating his personality. I appreciated the charisma, the inner conflict in regards to his actions (Nia and Pip), and the subtle way in which age affected his whole personna.

Plot: when it comes to plot, I find it a little bit on the easier side. Understandable! It is a middlegrade book who's main focus is imparting some lessons. But I would have enjoyed the story more if Fin and the others would have faced danger on the page from more direction, instead of the main one(as martyrs). Maybe I read to much in the scene with the fish vendor.

Overall, I really liked this book, and I will surely recommend it for all ages. It even has nice images for impactful scenes!
This book is for readers that scearch for lesson-driven stories and underdog narratives!I f you find yourself intrigued, this one's for you!

Enjoy!

This is a beautiful book on multiple levels and would be great for both older children and adults. First, in terms of story itself. I think the author watched all the great old Disney movies, so full of tragedy and beauty (and adorable animals that you immediately fall in love with and mourn for much more deeply than you would any human character), and then made her own story flow with all of the same. Next, you have the deeper things underneath - the questions pondered about meanings and powers of life, death, family, the state and its rulers, revenge. With a dictator preaching equality while enforcing the opposite, a plague ravaging not one but two species, a war between the same, there's no lack of content. This book will keep you thinking and reading for hours!

I had finished this and then took a while before posting my thoughts. This is one of those "I wanted to like it more" books. I loved the rat parts. Could have done without the human parts. There were no human characters that I liked. I would have liked to have had the rat world developed more with the human world shadowy figures on the outskirts. The quotes, also, got tedious. I did love the idea of comparing the rat world to Stalin-era Soviet Union. The author, in my opinion, would have produced a better story focusing on that aspect. In the end I felt that when we had the climax of Fin confronting Papa, it was rushed. The rat drawings were brilliant though.

Perhaps I should not have read this book during a pandemic. So much of the characters’ response to the bubonic plague rang true to the world’s response to COVID. However, I was enticed by the cover (gorgeous!! The artwork throughout was beautiful!) and then I tumbled down a rat tunnel, captivated by the prose. Balsara’s writing is addictive! I could not put this book down. You might think, erroneously, “Eew, rats. I don’t want to read a book about rats.” (And if you’re like my lovely mother, who cannot watch Ratatouille because of the rats, then, I will admit, this probably is not for you.) But if you are someone who loved Redwall, someone who loves a wonderful story, or someone who can overlook the rat-iness, then you should snap this book up.

The book follows two story lines: that of Fin the rat and Ananda the two-leg teenager. Fin’s colony, run by his uncle, plans to spread the bubonic plague to the humans. Ananda is trying to navigate high school and stand up for her beliefs. After Fin gets wounded, Ananda nurses him back to health, and Fin begins to question everything his uncle stands for. What transpires is a journey of self, a reflection of morals, and a discovery of love.

Balsara weaves deep psychological threads throughout this book: the uncle’s need for power and control; the human and animal response to the breakout of the plague (this hit home); Ananda’s father’s conflict of experimenting on rats to develop cancer drugs. This was a deep read; yet, it didn’t feel too complex, nor would it be too much for a middle school child to read.

Overall, this was simply a fantastic read. Balsara included quotes from Medieval documents and Josef Stalin (read the book to see the link) at each chapter, which I loved because so many of them relate to COVID response. This was well researched, developed, and executed. My two qualms were 1) some of Ananda’s dialogue felt forced, especially her interactions with her peers. Everything else about her was quintessential teenager. 2) It ended too quickly! I wanted more at the end of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a digital copy of this book. It was a delight to read!

4.5 stars - dark and touching, beautifully illustrated

Oh, this one was lovely! The Great & the Small by A. T. Balsara is a modern-day tale on how mistreatment creates a fertile ground for aggression and how far a charismatic leader can come by building on the anger and frustrations of many.
The story touches on many other timely topics like the hazard of bacterial infections in times of antibiotic resistances, the ethics of using animals in research, bullying in scool, group dynamics in a society with a charismatic (and increasingly paranoid) leader and more.

All of that is embedded in a story of how rats try to fight back after many generations of being systematically killed by humans, banned to the sewers in the city, living an undignified life.
They long for the better times of the past and plot to pay humanity back by bringing them the Plague. And then there is also Ananda, a small human girl in a new school, whose father works in a lab on rats and who abhors this with all her heart - because, despite what the leader of the rats "Papa" propagates, not all humans are equally bad and maybe it is not the best of ideas to plot their eradication.
And so it is up to his nephew Fin to navigate the complicated narratives and do what he thinks is right.

The Great & the Small is told in a deceptively simple and yet caring and beautiful language that might seem like it is straight from a children's book but do not be fooled. Within hides a dark story of planned genocide, a paranoid political leader and many killed rats. But there is hope in the end ...

One of the highlights of this book are the absolutely beautiful illustrations by the author herself. Clearly she has spent some time watchting rats closely and the way she has captured them with few digital brushstrokes is uncanny and deeply touching.

Now, being someone who had pet rats as a child and who thinks they are some of the smartes and cutest animals out there it was not much of a leap to open up to a story told from the viewpoint of rats. But I particularly recomment it to those who do not care much for them - it will be hard to resist Fin, Zumi and her gullible brother Scratch!

This has been out since 2017, and has lots of helpful reviews. It has a fairly complicated plot, some violence. But is it engaging and well-written. YA readers will probably like this most.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

A war is brewing. The old weapon is sought. The last time it was released, it killed one out of every three people, men, women, and children. The rats are waging war on the humans, for forcing them underground, into the dirt, the sewers, the stench, the death. They want revenge, and the Plague is the answer.

Fin is the nephew of the chairman. He witnesses some of the horrors laid upon rats by the two-legs and swears he will kill them. But then, in his moment of greatest danger, his greatest need, he is saved by a small two-leg and shown kindness. Was he wrong, and can he stop the war before it goes too far?

I’m so glad I read this book, also beautifully illustrated by the author. You read through from two different perspectives; an anthropomorphic view of the rats who want to teach the two-legs a lesson they will never forget, and the human family dealing with the outbreak of bubonic Plague, and especially the young girl who shows an injured rat kindness and love. There are terrifying undertones of the darkest days of communism; ‘sacrificing’ so many lives for the ‘greater good’ regardless of how many die. Anyone who doesn’t completely agree is a ‘wrecker’!

I found myself liking Fin and his friend Scratch. Their friendship was relatable, while my distrust for his uncle ‘Papa’ felt real from the beginning. The girl Ananda was willful and determined to stand up to cruelty and injustice and was very likeable. All of the characters were well thought out and portrayed believably on the pages, and I could feel the sense of dread as the world woke up to this resurgence of Bubonic Plague.

Overall I enjoyed The Great and The Small and young recommend it to anyone young and old. I have given this book four stars.