Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University. She is the author of several books, including The
Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret
Laurence: The Long Journey Home.

In her bestselling children’s book Princess Prunella and the Purple
Peanut, Margaret Atwood created a delightfully ridiculous story out of
mainly “p”-sounding words. This time she uses “r”-sounding
words, and the result is just as comical.

Red-haired Rude Ramsay resides with revolting relatives who play retro
rock ’n’ roll records relentlessly. Fed up, and tired of a diet of
roach-riddled rice and runny rhubarb, Ramsay decides to make a break for
freedom and change. His revolt prompts a violent response from his
rotund relatives, and Rude Ramsay flees in order to seek solace with
Ralph, a red-nosed rat. Ralph wisely suggests that relocating their
residence would bring refreshment.

Encouraged by Ralph, Ramsay retreats through a tunnel that leads to a
“resplendent realm ... rendering Ramsay rhapsodic,” a realm where,
much to Ralph’s delight, “raspberry bushes ... [range] in reassuring
rows.” But the radishes object to being yanked from the ground and
roar their displeasure. Ralph and Ramsay are about to run away when a
small girl appears and demands to know why they are robbing her
radishes. Rillah lives nearby in a romantic, recently restored rectory.
She reveals that her relatives, unlike Ramsay’s, are respectable but
“lacking in rectitude.” Moreover, she is bored. Luckily, she likes
rats. The mayhem is eventually sorted out and peace is restored. Ramsay,
Rillah, and Ralph crawl back through the Roman-vaulted rat hole and
“[romp] rapturously among the roses.”

This is perhaps the best of Atwood’s five children’s books and begs
to be read aloud. Dusan Petricic’s wonderfully energetic watercolour
illustrations bring the characters to life. Highly recommended.