I Smell a Rat

I bought this for my 3 year old son, and he loves it. There are 10 different scratch & sniff stickers: flowers, cheese, bubble-gum, lemons, pickle, soap, spices, onion, ratatouille, and cherry. However, I can't really smell the cheese and cherry stickers. My son loves to go through the pages without even reading the story. He smells the scent and either says "mmmmmm..." or "ewwwwww..." Then, he wants me to take a turn smelling the sticker. The story rhymes and is about Remy looking for ingredients to put into his dinner. I would definitely recommend to any parent with a toddler. It is an enjoyable read.

"Remy, the rat chef, is out seeking food. It's such a nice day and he's in a swell mood. With Linguini, his friend, Remy sniffs up and down, Searching the shops for the best treats in town." -- From the book My family and I saw Ratouille last week and enjoyed it immensely! We now have three books based on the movie, and I Smell A Rat was our latest purchase. Unlike other Ratatouille books, this one is NOT based on the story line of the movie. Instead, I Smell a Rat follows Linguini, Remy and Emile (Remy's brother) around the town. From flowers at the curb-side florist to stinky cheese, sticky bubble gum to fresh ratatouille, there are ten different scent areas in this book. While the whole scratch-and-sniff concept isn't new, it IS rather unusual to see it in a movie tie-in book. Unfortunately, a few of the scents smell like chemical fabrications...not the real thing. For example, the "fresh flowers" smelled like something out of the laundry detergent aisle in the local supermarket! A few DID smell close to the real thing (red onions, pickles and ratatouille--which smelled like oregano or a delicious Italian dish), but a few didn't even smell at all (spices and cherries). This COULD be because other children had already scratched the sniff areas to death BEFORE we bought the book. However, the stickers themselves didn't show any signs of wear or scratching. The text throughout I Smell a Rat are brief rhymes, making it an accessible books for beginner readers (up to age 6 or so). Older children will enjoy the novelty of the scratch-and-sniff areas. This hardcover book features stylized versions of the movie characters, not slick stills from the movie--so keep that in mind. (So far, the only Ratatouille-based books using actual film stills are the sticker books from what I've seen.) If your child is interested in food or likes the movie Ratatouille, they'll probably be delighted with this scratch-and-sniff book--but do know that some of the scents are overpowering and unnatural...with a few possibly not giving off any scent at all.