Full Text Review(s)
"After escaping from their comfortable classroom cage, two rat brothers journey around the world, caught up in a plot to steal a jeweled statue—the fabled Burmese Bandicoot—and to exterminate humankind. More adventure than mystery, this is an inviting introduction to what promises to be a series starring courageous Frederick and comfort-loving Ishbu. Cox returns to the idea of rats a classroom pets she introduced in Third Grade Pet (1998), with these engaging explorers, personified but still representative of their species in appearance, skills and appetites. Federick’s excellent education is nicely counterbalanced with Ishbu’s strong moral sense. Occasional classic quotations support the idea that, though caged, Frederick has paid attention in class. Small drawings of the rats introduce each short chapter. An endnote provides some facts about rats and bandicoots, as well as the Karni Mata Temple, the Fire Balloon Festival of Myanmar and the Australian Big Bird Race, all of which appear in the story. Fast-paced and suspenseful, this is solid entertainment for the middle-grade reader."

"In the first installment of a new series, rat brothers Frederick and Ishbu escape their classroom cage after the villainous Big Cheese, an opossum who rules the animal underworld, tries to strong-arm Frederick into stealing a valuable statue known as the Burmese Bandicoot. The brothers skip town on a pirate ship but are soon shipwrecked on an island, where they discover the fabled statue and its terrible secret—an ancient poison that can wipe out the human race. When the statue is stolen by a Big Cheese operative, Frederick (a scholarly rat who quotes Coleridge and builds his own hot-air balloon) masterminds a plan to retrieve it; but it is corpulent Ishbu, overcoming his cowardice, who finally saves the day. Although the means by which the brothers happen to escape are sometimes too convenient, Cox, a former elementary-school teacher, imbues the story with suspenseful action as well as interesting information about rat behavior, geography, and marine navigation. Some of the facts behind the fiction appear in an appended author’s note.— Kristen McKulski"

"Malicious Millicent Mallory is the catalyst who sets in to action the adventures of two pet-shop rats, brave and noble Frederick and corpulent and lethargic Ishbu. These devoted rodent brothers have enjoyed their life in the comfortable cage at the back of Miss Dove’s classroom—Frederick learning about literature, language, longitude, and latitude, and Ishbu enjoying the students’ lunch left-overs—until the day they are "rat handled" by Millicent. Frederick bites her on the hand, and the brothers are sentenced to be exterminated. Their harrowing escape lands them in the lair of the Big Cheese, an opossum mob boss intent on destroying humankind. It does not take long for the innocent and trusting rats to discover how perilous the real world is. From the Bilgewater Brigade’s underworld of vermin and pestilence to the Secret Temple of Karni Mata on an uncharted island, these heroes use the knowledge learned from Miss Dove’s classroom instruction to solve major mysteries and eradicate themselves from dire situations.

In a well written and full of humor "tail," the many inserted geography, literature, and science references do not distract from the characters’ adventures. Although the anthropomorphism is inconsistent, the time line improbable, and the coincidences unbelievable, the story is, after all, a fantasy and good fun. The short, action-packed chapters, engaging illustrations, and author’s conversational style will attract many readers. This book would serve as an entertaining read-aloud.— Lynne Farrell Stover"

"Launching the Tails of Frederick and Ishbu series, Cox's (Don't Be Silly, Mrs. Millie!) first middle-grade novel is a labyrinthine saga starring two rat brothers who escape from their cage in a fifth-grade classroom. The two have distinct, equally likable personalities: adventurous Frederick has eagerly absorbed the lessons taught in class, whereas timid Ishbu has spent most of his time snacking and snoozing. In the outside world, they encounter the Big Cheese, the villainous leader of the Bilgewater Brigade gang, who tries to recruit the duo to fetch the Burmese Bandicoot (a priceless, jewel-encrusted gold statue, hidden on a remote island in the Indian Ocean). Despite Frederick's initial inclination to sign up for adventure ("His blood was racing. He was ready to sail, ready to steal-no, wait!-'recover' the statue."), the siblings flee and, following a series of misadventures, land, coincidentally enough, on the very island harboring the coveted statue. Giving this spry caper dimension are snippets of science, history and fiction Frederick has gleaned at school and the strong fraternal bond between the brothers, despite their differences. The action-packed story should readily hold readers' attention. Ages 10-up."