The Tale of One Bad Rat, by Bryan Talbot (drama comic, 1994)

[lb_lee]

“I... we... we're so fragile... so unlikely... so precious. ...eh, rat?”

Blurb: An abused teenager with a synchronistic link to Beatrix Potter, runs away from her London home, accompanied by her pet rat, who later becomes an imaginary friend who stays with her the entire book. With the help of her rat, her art, the works of Beatrix Potter, she does her best to survive and find a better life for herself.

Why is it worth your time?: It's really good. Both art and story are intricate and well-crafted; we have reread this book countless times and still find little visual details and motifs that we hadn't noticed before. It rewards rereads. This book has apparently been used with abused teens in the decades since it's been out, with good effect. There's a reason it won multiple awards.

Plural Tags: imaginary friends, nonswitching, introjects, abuse high-focus, nonhumans [rat]

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: Available on paper, ebook, and in many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, and Polish I think.

Comments

Content warnings

[lb_lee]

Emotional abuse and incest are major themes of this book, but the incest is mostly shown through abstraction, and it isn't explicit. The title character has visions of violence and attempting suicide, which is gory. Her pet rat also dies over the course of the book, leading to it being internalized as her imaginary friend. Despite this, the book isn't that intense; it is absolutely appropriate for teenagers.

That said, her rat accompanies her through the entire book as a positive presence. It appears even on the end papers, showing their happy ending together.