Chapter book of the week: Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat

I am excited about this book for many reasons.  Not only did it get starred reviews from Booklist AND School Library Journal, the rat mentioned in the title is from Schenectady!  I was intrigued by Lynn Jonell's choice, and I assumed that she must be from the northeast, so I did a little research.  She is not from the northeast, however, so I because even more intrigued and I wanted to find out how Rat came to be from our city.  I emailed her, figuring that I would never hear back from her, but she wrote me back that very same day and said that she loved the way Schenectady sounds when you say it.  She liked it so much, she decided to come and visit, and the third book in the series actually takes place in Schenectady, mostly in the Stockade area.  In my opinion, this book has it all: humor, mysterious characters, and a local tie.  And if that isn't good enough, Mrs. Jonell offered to email any of our students who would like to chat with her.  This would be an excellent choice for a classroom read-aloud, the possibilities for extensions are endless!