RATS WITH BACKPACKS

Courtney’s middle-grade nonfiction debut describes the career of behavioral research scientist Dr. Donna Kean, who worked training giant pouched rats for search and rescue operations.

Hailing from a poor neighborhood in Glasgow, Scotland, Kean enjoyed a loving upbringing among extended family. Her interest in science was shaped by several factors, most notably her love of animals (kickstarted when her family adopted a stray dog); exposure to natural beauty, such as the Isle of Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides; and a curious, questioning nature that was both encouraged and inspired by her virologist mother. Kean majored in psychology at the University of Strathclyde and pursued her interest in animal communication in a master’s program through the University of Kent before earning her Ph.D. from the University of Stirling. Having graduated, Kean moved from Scotland to Tanzania to take up a position with APOPO, a Belgian organization that does remarkable work with African giant pouched rats. Larger and more long-lived than pet rats, cohorts of these giant pouched “HeroRATs” have been lovingly trained to sniff out landmines (achieving in 30 minutes what would take a human expert up to four days) and to screen sputum samples for tuberculosis (again, at many magnitudes quicker and with more accuracy than human clinicians). Excited by the HeroRATs’ aptitude for such tasks, Kean has been training a new cohort of “RescueRATs” (aka “rats with backpacks!”) to search for survivors in collapsed buildings. Courtney, who has previously published middle-grade novels—including Cloudscape: Matilda’s Story (2019)—adapts well to nonfiction, providing facts in straightforward prose but with a storyteller’s knack for building character. The assiduous focus (half the book) on Kean’s life prior to her work at APOPO may inculcate readers with a sense that passion, curiosity, and hard work can lead a child from a poor background toward the world of scientific research. Once Courtney establishes Kean’s background, she shifts from past to present tense and reveals the wonders of rat research—the extraordinary feats achieved at APOPO before Dr. Kean’s arrival and her even more ambitious work in progress. The book is text heavy but astutely laid out with photos and inlays, and textual variation adds color and emphasis to quotes.

A well-measured biography sure to inspire budding young scientists.