Friday, November 16, 2007

Ratatouille -- The Rats of NIMH, part deux?


Last night I hit upon one of those marvelous coincidences that make life fun. Could Ratatouille http://www.ratatouillemovie.net/ be one of the legendary Rats of NIMH? Think about it! Here is a remarkable rat, able to converse with humans, a rodent of impeccable taste, with a highly developed sense of smell and the ability to create culinary masterpieces. Surely such a critter would be able to find his way from a lab in the United States to a sewer in France! Perhaps he suffered amnesia due to a traumatic injury along the way, thus forgetting his origin, was adopted by a kindly family of rats, and eventually, through his superior intellect and long life, found his niche within a kitchen of French haut-cuisine! Could this be the lost Jenner, mellowed thanks to an assumed brain injury induced amnesia?

In any case, students who have seen this fun movie may well draw movie-to-text connections between the rats described as thieves and scavengers in both media. Perhaps here is another fun extention activity: Reading Journal Directions -- Please write the story of Jenner's journey after being stunned by the electrocution, escaping from the hardware store mere moments before being discovered by humans, across the Atlantic and into the sewers of France.

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