Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

"Don’t pretend you didn’t hear the Rat talk, because I know you did.”

“I’m not pretending,” said Emmy hurriedly. “He does. He talks. I don’t know why, either, but nobody else ever seems to hear him–”

“I did,” said Joe.

“Yeah, well, you heard him today, but I’ve been hearing him all year.”…

“All year? You haven’t been in our class all year.”

Emmy stared at him. “I’ve been sitting across from you since September,” she said slowly. (51)

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell tells the story of Emmaline Addison, a good girl who does her homework without being told and excels at everything she does. But no matter what she does, she seems to remain invisable to her teacher and classmates at her new school, Grayson Lake Elementary. It’s no different at home, where her newly wealthy parents are continuously leaving her in the hands of Miss Barmy, a mysterious nanny who forces her to take “vitamins”. However, when classmate Joe admits to Emmy that he is also hearing the class’s pet Rat talk, life for Emmy and Joe gets even stranger. First Joe and then Emmy end up shrinking to about four inches tall. Then, with the help of a nutty, narcaleptic professor and a family of chimpmunks, they must stop an evil plot to steal all of Emmy’s family’s money and lock up Emmy in a loony bin.

AMY