Hannah wanted rats ever since her mother told her about having them as a child. For years, she asked for rats for her birthday and Christmas but was always told no. When she was 12, she met a rat named Ratatouille at a pet shop and really liked him. To convince her parents to get rats, Hannah started working harder around the house and acting more responsibly. A week later, Hannah's parents got her two rats - an albino named Roscoe and a black hooded named Ronny. Unfortunately, Roscoe died after a couple weeks but Ronny remained healthy and happy. Hannah later got another baby rat, Caillou, who is now 7 weeks old. Now Hannah has two rats,

1. By Hannah Clark

2. My mother
once told me
that she had
rats when she
was 12. So I
began to
imagine
myself with
rats.

3. I kept asking every year for Christmas and my
birthday for rats. Sadly, the answer was always
no.

4.  When I was 12, I
met an adult rat
at a pet shop, his
name was
Ratatouille. My
mom had almost
said yes to
Ratatouille
because he
seemed to really
like me, but of
course the answer

5. I began to work harder around the house
and didn’t complain. I tried to act more
responsible so my parents could see that I
was ready to take care of a pet on my own.

8. Aweek later
my rats
arrived! I
named my
albino Roscoe
and my black
hooded Ronny.

9. A couple of weeks later Roscoe died due
to unknown causes. Ronny though stayed
happy and healthy.

10. I got a new baby rat later and named him
Caillou. He’s a black, silver dumbo who’s only 7
weeks old.

11. Now I have two happy, healthy, kind of
fat, ratties. That’s why I have rats.