Sakura of DOOM

This is not actually a story about a rat, although a pet rat plays a pretty big role. It's actually a story of a runaway named Helen who is trying to get over being sexually abused by her father, and how she manages to make peace with herself.

Talbot has had pet rats, and he writes that rats have a misleadingly bad rep. They're actually very smart and clean, but often get called dirty and nasty, and as such, he parallels the misunderstood rats with his runaway and other victims of sexual abuse, who are often told that they are bad and dirty, when they have done nothing wrong.

The art is fairly realistic and doesn't gloss over or stylize what happens to Helen and how she manages to live as a runaway.

And, in case anyone was wondering, the rat drawings are immensely accurate! I squeed when I saw them, because Helen's pet rat is a hooded rat and looks just like Fool-rat.

I have to admit, I read this mostly for the rat stuff, even though there's not that much of it. I was vastly amused because I read this while letting my own rats run roughshod over me, and they were snuffling away and standing on their hind legs and sniffing at all sorts of random things.

So... eh, yes, it ended up being much more on the therapeutic-ness of having pet rats than on the important topic of child abuse for me. But I suspect that is a highly idiosyncratic response.

Talbot does handle the subject well, though I feel the book is a little too short -- I would have preferred more time spent in Helen's head.