Rat and Roach: Friends to the End

Covell introduces a classic New York City odd couple in his debut picture book. Sloppy Rat, round-bellied in a rumpled gray flannel shirt, and neatnik Roach, slim in a pinstriped vest, live together “under Avenue A.” The urbanites share interests: garbage-man Rat plays drums, and food critic Roach wants to squeak lead vocals in a band. Yet they loudly disagree over decorating and dining. “Why do they shout? Is it because.... Rat makes a mess and Roach makes things too pretty? Or Rat has bad manners when Roach cooks too fancy?” Grammarians will wince at Covell’s jerky transitions and laissez-faire attitude toward syntax, and this hit-or-miss quality marks the art, too. Covell pictures Rat and Roach in squiggles of black marker and spritzes of black, neon green, and hot pink spray paint; his imagery suggests graffiti tags and stencils, and Rat calls Banksy to mind. For all its improv surface and gross-out vermin, though, this is a benign narrative. If the subtitle suggests traps and poison, no (external) threats emerge to threaten the protagonists, who seal their friendship over a smelly heap of tuna. Ages 3–6. (June)