''Ratburger'' is a children's book written by

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Br ...

, and illustrated by

Tony Ross Anthony Lee Ross (born 10 August 1938) is a British author and illustrator of children's picture books. In Britain, he is best known for writing and illustrating his Little Princess books and for illustrating the Horrid Henry series by France ...

. It is the fifth book by Walliams, and won the Children's Book of the Year Award at the

Specsavers National Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Nationa ...

in 2012.

Plot

The story follows a young girl named Zoe, whose mother died when she was a baby. Zoe now lives in a

council flat A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 a ...

with her father and her lazy stepmother, Sheila. Zoe is being bullied by a classmate named Tina Trotts and is looked down upon by a teacher, Miss Midge. She is also suspicious of Burt, who sells burgers to schoolchildren from his van. A couple of years prior, Zoe's father bought Zoe a

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The ...

as a birthday present, and she named it Gingernut. The hamster dies in suspicious circumstances, and Zoe suspects that Sheila is responsible. Shortly afterward, Zoe finds a rat that has sneaked into her room, and discovers that it is intelligent and can dance to music. Zoe names the rat Armitage (after the name of a plumbing company which she finds on a toilet bowl), but he is seen by her headmaster and her history teacher Miss Midge, who insists that Zoe should be suspended. Zoe goes to see Raj, the owner of her local newsagents, and tells him everything. Raj is shocked to learn of Zoe's suspension and is scared of Armitage, advising Zoe to set him free. Zoe does so, but Armitage comes back, convincing her that he wants to live with her. Sheila learns of Zoe's suspension and tries to force her to give Armitage to the blind burger seller Burt (who at which point is pretending to be a pest-control man). Zoe denies having a rat, but Burt sniffs him out, and Zoe is sent to her room. She tries to escape by digging a hole through the wall of her room into the neighbouring flat, but this leads to Tina Trott's bedroom. Escaping from Tina, Zoe follows and spies on Burt, discovering that his burgers are made out of rats he has captured. Burt finds her and eventually tells her why he hates rats: when he worked at a laboratory, he was bitten by a rat which gave him such a shock that he spilled acid onto his eyes, burning them out. Zoe finds her father in his local pub, The Executioner & Axe. Zoe's father accompanies Zoe to the warehouse where Burt keeps his rats and burger-making machine. Since they are not able to tell which of the captive rats is Armitage, Zoe and her father free them all. Then Burt and Sheila arrive with Armitage and threaten to throw Armitage, Zoe and her father into the burger-making machine. In the ensuing struggle, Burt and Sheila overbalance into the machine and are minced and turned into burgers, which the rats then eat. Taking Armitage with them, Zoe and her father escape in Burt's van. Her father subsequently converts the vehicle into an ice cream van and launches his own company, Armitage's Ices, so that he can pursue his dream of making and selling ice cream with new flavours that he has invented. These prove popular with the local schoolchildren and the business is a success. Meanwhile, Zoe has discovered that Tina is being bullied by her father. Tina apologises to Zoe for bullying her in return, and the two become friends. The next day, Zoe's suspension is lifted and she and Armitage perform at the school talent show with Tina.

Adaptation

On 22 February 2017, David Walliams confirmed on Twitter that Ratburger was being adapted for British broadcaster Sky UK. It was broadcast on Sky One at 18:00 on 24 December 2017. The film starred: *Talia Barnett as Zoe *

as Burt *

Sheridan Smith Sheridan Caroline Sian Smith OBE (born 25 June 1981) is an English actress, singer and television personality. Smith came to prominence after playing a variety of characters on sitcoms such as ''The Royle Family'' (1999–2000), '' Two Pints ...

as Sheila *

Mark Benton Mark Benton (born 16 November 1965) is an English actor and television presenter known for his roles as Eddie in ''Early Doors'', Howard in '' Northern Lights'' and Martin Pond in '' Barbara''. Benton has also starred in the BBC One school-base ...

as Gary *Tillie Amartey as Tina Trotts *

Nigel Planer Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, comedian, musician, novelist and playwright. He played Neil in the BBC comedy '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in ''Filthy Rich & Catflap''. He has appeared in many West End mu ...

as Headmaster * Ben Bailey Smith as Charlie Jacob * Sarah Hadland as DC Grey *

Harish Patel Harish Patel (born 5 July 1953) is an Indian character actor. He has appeared in a variety of Hindi films, but in recent years has begun to appear in American projects like reimagination of '' Four Weddings and a Funeral'' on Hulu. His latest p ...

as Raj *

Sophie Thompson Sophie Thompson (born 20 January 1962) is a British actress who has worked in film, television and theatre. A six-time Olivier Award nominee, she won the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of ''Into the Woods' ...

as Miss Maxwell *George Kent as Harry *Charlotte Marsh as Jemma *

Jocelyn Jee Esien Jocelyn Jee Esien (born 2 March 1979) is a British comedian, actress and writer of Nigerian origin. She stars in the hidden-camera show ''3 Non-Blondes'', and her own comedy sketch show, '' Little Miss Jocelyn''.Laura Barnett"Jocelyn Jee Esien ...

as WPC Budd * Sophie Riley as Jade *Sally Plumb as Linda * Andi Peters as Presenter *Robyn Payne Cooper as Kayleigh * Chris Ellison as Landlord

References

{{David Walliams Novels by David Walliams British children's novels British novels adapted into films Fiction about animal cruelty 2012 British novels 2012 children's books HarperCollins books British Book Award-winning works