The Highway Rat cover art

The Highway Rat

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The Highway Rat

By: Julia Donaldson
Narrated by: Imelda Staunton
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About this listen

The Highway Rat rides along the highway stealing all of the travellers’ food. But a crafty duck soon puts an end to his crooked ways!

Brilliantly performed by award-winning actress, Imelda Staunton, this audio download contains the complete, best-selling story with music, the Highway Rat Song, a listening game, and a readalong version of the story with musical page turns to use with a copy of the book.

©2011 Julia Donaldson (P)2013 Scholastic UK Ltd Animals Animals & Nature Literature & Fiction Funny

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Editor reviews

“A classic picture book... great to read aloud” (Radio 4’s Front Row)
All stars
Most relevant
Loved it. Filled with fun,laughter and a way for kids to have outstanding fun.

Amazing

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I can't rave about this book enough, it's brilliant. We had a hardback copy so already had an idea of how the characters would sound (prior to the TV version being released). Imelda Staunton does an exceptional job of bringing it to life.

I've a lot of praise for the format as well - the story is about ten minutes, then there's another ten minutes of fun regarding the story, who said what?, who makes this sound? etc; then the last ten minutes is the book again as a readalong - Imelda pauses at the end of sentences for the listener to fill in the blanks. Our daughters love it and we have had it on repeat a few times on long journeys without it becoming grating as an adult.

I would also recommend Zog, it's in the same format. I keep Highway Rat and Zog permanently on my phone so there's always there for car journeys with the children, just in case.

Fantastic for children

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Our granddaughter enjoys this book more than any other. We constantly re-enact it with her. As Grandma, I enjoy the old lady of the story skilfully outwitting the wicked Highway Rat using her knowledge & cleverness. The book is very useful in encouraging a 2 1/2year old to eat up quickly & outwit Grandad as Highway Rat. Like all her books Julia Donaldson is spot on!

Old lady wins!

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Great story and well read, as always by Imelda Staunton! My son loves the story and I love that he goes to sleep listening to a story.

My 2 year old love this

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My 4 year old son absolutely loves this story. We tend to listen to Audiobooks in the car and this one is currently on repeat. Very different sound to the TV Show version however, the narrator is consistent throughout most of the series which adds familiarity.

The Highway - The Highway

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