Book Club Guide

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

by Terry Pratchett · 2001 · Young Adult

Key themes

Discworld for younger readers — but no less morally serious
Talking rats and the cat who runs the scam — who has the real intelligence?
Stories within stories — and what happens when rats start believing in them

About this book

Winner of the 2001 Carnegie MedalOne rat, popping up here and there, squeaking loudly, and taking a bath in the cream, could be a plague all by himself. After a few days of this, it was amazing how gl

Published in 2001, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents won the Carnegie Medal — the first Discworld novel to do so. It was Pratchett's first book marketed for younger readers, though it retains his characteristic moral complexity.

Discussion questions

The educated rats have learned to read by eating the magical waste from Unseen University. How does Pratchett use this origin story — and what does literacy do to them?
Maurice the cat runs a scam involving the rats and a 'piper' — but the scam encounters something genuinely dark in the town of Bad Blintz. How does Pratchett develop the shift from comedy to genuine menace?
The rats develop their own mythology — the Big Rat Underground — partly from stories the humans tell. What is Pratchett saying about the relationship between stories and belief?
The novel won the Carnegie Medal — a first for the Discworld series. What does it do for younger readers that distinguishes it from Pratchett's adult Discworld novels — and what stays the same?
Pratchett's humour and his moral seriousness coexist throughout his work. How does The Amazing Maurice balance comedy with its darker themes — rats being exterminated, exploitation, real fear?