In this beautifully illustrated picture book from Lara Hawthorne, a mysterious creature from a secluded volcano crater explores the outside world for the very first time . . . but it is not what he expects it to be! Will his adventure teach him there is no place like home?
Ratty, an ENORMOUS woolly, vegetarian rat, lives deep inside the crater of an ancient volcano nestled in the rainforest. One day, he spies a delicious-looking fruit high in the treetops, and sets out to reach it. From this vantage point a spectacular view stretches before him - the world outside his mountain crater.
In this big outside world, Ratty imagines, the fruit must be much sweeter, the bird songs more beautiful and the other animals far more interesting and sophisticated, and so he sets off in search of better things. But when he is asked to attend a dinner party by a crocodile who seems just a bit too friendly, Ratty realises that perhaps there is no place like home after all.
Inspired by the scientific breakthroughs of Mount Bosavi, Papua New Guinea in which over 40 new species of animals and plants were identified, Lara Hawthorne seamlessly combines story and fact in this picture book which celebrates the diversity of life, and being thankful for what you have!
From the Greenaway-nominated author and illustrator of The Night Flower, which won the 2020 CBHL Annual Literature Award of Excellence in Children's and Young Adult Literature and Alba the Hundred Year Old Fish which has sold over 59,000 copies worldwide (as of May 2024).Lara Hawthorne writes and illustrates some of the best narrative non-fiction on the market.Mount Bosavi was the subject of a three part BBC documentary Lost Land of the Volcano, broadcast in 2009. This expedition was one of the first to the crater and it discovered many unique species living there. This book is made in consultation with a member of the documentary's scientific team. 
