RATS ON THE RANGE

Eight more merry, interrelated tales of mishap and just deserts for readers of Rats On the Roof: unpleasant surprises await both housekeeper "Miss Mouse," who discovers that her new employer is a cat, and (in the title story) the vacationing Waldo Rat family when they find out that their dude ranch is run by rat terriers; Pig speeds around town in a yellow sports car until he learns the hard way that the bridge is out over Gopher's Gulch; and he just can't seem to hold onto a job—not even as local TV weatherpig. With industry plus a knack for telling good stories, Miss Mouse persuades the cat to change his appetites, while the other challenges here are likewise met in funny, inventive ways. As always, tolerance and care for others were Marshall's themes, belly-laughs his method. (Fiction. 7-10)