Rats - Backstreet Author:Helen Orme, David Orme Backstreet has classrooms, desks and teachers but it's no ordinary school. At Backstreet, lessons are learnt the hard way. Set in a special school, "Rats!" is part of a new fiction series that follows the experiences of boys and girls who have been excluded from mainstream education. These gritty and realistic streetwise stories will resonate wi... more »th teens and young adults, but are carefully written to cater for a reading age of 5-6. The low word counts and controlled vocabulary provides access for even the most reluctant and struggling of readers, while the edgy black and white illustrations support the narrative. In "Rats!", Darren's been clearing old houses with his uncle but then his mum gets a call from Ms Hunter and he's forced to go back to Backstreet. Darren's mates are pleased to see him but they're not so pleased about what he's bought with him. Disruption is something this class is used to, but not the kind caused by four-legged furry friends.« less