Like most rats, Mr. Pack Rat built a cozy home out of pine needles, sticks, bark, and other brown things, but soon tired of boring brown and wanted more colorful things to decorate with. He used a family heirloom a magic magnet to collect things that made him happy - colorful flowers that later died and didn’t smell so good anymore, glittery shells bits that looked a lot better on the beach, and a whole bunch of toys from his favorite store. Soon there was no more room for Mr. Pack Rat! Simple, but colorful and inventive illustrations accompany this delightful story.

This story is all about how “things” cannot make you happy. How life’s experiences, and the people you meet are what happiness really is. It does so in guise of a pack rat who wants his home to be nice, have things to play with etc.

Oh, so sweet! What a cute little story about a greedy little pack rat. Mr. Pack Rat wants it all! Little kids will enjoy this silly story. Might prompt a discussion about wanting everything one sees. I love the illustrations, too, so adorable! Kudos author and illustrator for a lovely little tale!

This delightful book is about Mr. Pack Rat who one day is so happy he feels that he might explode. Why? He has just built his first midden! A midden is a nest that pack rats build out of this and that, anything really that strikes their fancy and they can drag back to their home.

Mr. Pack Rats midden's theme colour is basic brown. He arranges brown pine needles, brown sticks and leaves, brown acorns, pinecones, and chips of bark that blend in perfectly with that theme. Feeling he needs a break from all his creative labour he walks to his favourite meadow where the wildflowers are all in bloom. The colours pop out at him and Mr. Pack Rat suddenly thinks about his midden and how boring the colour brown really is. He decides then and there that only vibrant colours can make him happy. Luckily he has an old metal bar that works like a magical magnet. He points the bar at the flowers and voilà the flowers are plucked and they march home behind him. He is over the moon happy with the colour change until like flowers do... they all wither, turn brown... and die. Oh my! Mr. Pack Rat is not happy any longer.

He tries his creative skills to make him happy once again by using sea shells. Nope, they don't sparkle enough, and then goes for a heist to obtain toys, tools and games from his favourite store. Did he really steal those things from the poor store owner? That's not good. The last straw is Mr. Pack Rat trying to acquire the entire night sky because it twinkles and sparkles in its majestic vastness and that escapade ends up with a HUGE NOPE! What was he thinking?

Mr. Pack Rat has an epiphany and comes to the conclusion that things can not make him happy. After some quiet time and reflection he discovers that he is happy already inside. His redemption generates peace and contentment as he snuggles down in his brown midden for a good night's sleep. Yep, brown is cozy and Mr. Pack Rat approves... zzzzzzz.

This delightful fable from Marcus Ewert, author of 10,000 Dresses, is a wonderful life lesson about being satisfied with and enjoying what you have. A lesson that both the young and the old can adhere to. Great book to share and discuss.

“Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That” is a well-executed book that uses tight prose and visually compelling illustrations to deliver an important moral lesson to young readers. Teaching young children about the dangers of greed, selfishness, and the dangers of consumerism isn’t easy. The book uses a clever plot device in the form of a magic magnet to show children to see that getting everything you think you want may not make you happy.

I enjoyed the written content of the book but wasn't able to see an any images. I downloaded the epub file and attempted viewing it in both Aldiko and Adobe and in both instances, the file seemed mildly corrupted but differently on each platform.

Since I seem to be the only one having this issue I'll chalk it up to a random technical snafu.

I will rate the book a 4/5 because the story is very cute and judging from the cover, the illustrations probably are too tho I can't see them - only black lines where an illustration otherwise would be present.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That is a lovely book.
It is filled with cheerful, colorful pictures that are really appealing for children.
Mr. Pack wants it all,he has a lot but wants more. Using his magical magnet he takes what he wants.

This is a lovely book to help teach children material things don't bring happiness, and that its about appreciating the smaller things around us that brings true happiness and having a friend to remind us helps too!

A magical book that was a pleasure to read.

Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That will help children see what happens when all they do is want more and more. It doesn't actually fill your life, just your space and it isn't helpful at all. I think this book can help children see the value of needs and what always wanting and getting will lead to.
This could be a good conversation starter about wants vs. needs, perspective, resources and much more.

Pack Rat thinks his home is too monochrome, and finds a magical magnet that’ll grab anything he wants if he chants a limerick. But he quickly finds flowers don’t last and has to hunt for more stuff. Same thing with the next stuff, and so on.
It’s educational, though I have no idea why a kid would need to know what a midden is. The point appears to be about happiness—or don’t be greedy—but I’m annoyed at the fact he emptied out the whole store without a thought of paying. Flowers and shells are one thing, but outright stealing sours this for me. The fact that he returned everything after his epiphany doesn’t change that. Even if you think I’m being too critical of a children’s book, imagine a parent having to explain the theft when a kid says, “Isn’t that a wrong thing to do?”
2.5 pushed up to 3/5

The illustrations were very well done in this book. You can feel the various settings through the use of color. I enjoyed the classic illustration style of the field of flowers and the beach, etc. The story had a good lesson about being happy with what you have. However, I did not feel as though the illustrations matched the story. The earthy tones used in the illustrations did not match up with the type of magic that was happening in the text.

There was a disconnect with the soft subtle illustrations and a mouse hovering in mid-air stealing flowers from a field with a magnet. The narrative's message could have been fulfilled on a smaller scale without the use of a magic magnet. I simply did not get this.

What a charming picture book!
A great reminder for kids to be content with what they have and realize that physical things are not what makes a person happy. The illustrations really added to this story and created a wonderful vibe throught the book.
A great book for the classroom!

it was amazing

A charming story about a pack rat who is trying to make his home as beautiful as the world around him, in hopes of being happy. Mr. Pack Rat soon finds that being happy has less to do with what you have, and more to do with what you do.

Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That is a great story, with a wonderful lesson. It's a great way to teach children that material items aren't what will lead to happiness. Great for the classroom and as a bedtime story!

The book, Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That, is very cute. Mr. Pack Rat wants everything. And he gets everything! Until he realizes that he can't really have everything. Upset, Mr. Pack Rat stops wanting everything, and he realizes that he could have a few things and be happy. He realizes that he needs to just know when he is happy.

Once he realizes this, he returns many of the items he has collected and just enjoys what he does have. The lesson that you don't need a lot of things to be happy is a good one. The book is a little bit longer, so I'd recommend it for kids ages 3-5.

This was a fun picture book with a get lesson material happiness. The illustrations throughout the story were fun and would be eye-catching for toddlers and preschoolers. I particularly liked the ending of the magical chants Mr. Pack Rat uses when he wishes for something:

"Mr. Pack Rat,
Mr. Pack Rat,
Mr. Pack Rat really wants that!"

Thinking as a Children's Librarian, I thought this chant would be fun to have my story time patrons say with me every time we come across it in the story. I liked the description of the things Mr. Pat Rack wished for, such as the colorful flowers and the glittering seashells. The magical realism incorporated in each wish came across very well both in the text and the illustrations. I enjoyed the overall moral of the story that wanting material things will not always make you happy. Sometimes being in your favorite place and the memories you take away from it is really all you need.

A charming story about a pack rat who is trying to make his home as beautiful as the world around him, in hopes of being happy. Mr. Pack Rat soon finds that being happy has less to do with what you have, and more to do with what you do.

Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That is a great story, with a wonderful lesson. It's a great way to teach children that material items aren't what will lead to happiness. Great for the classroom and as a bedtime story!

Just a lovely book! The illustrations were detailed and inviting. I can see a child going over and over all the details. The message of happiness where you are is well stated.

What a great book to teach kids the importance of recognizing what you already have and seeing that it makes you happy without more material things around you.

MR. PACK RAT REALLY WANTS THAT is the story of a rat who creates himself the perfect home, only to go out into the world and see other things that he thinks will make him happy. Using his magic magnet, he collects all the wildflowers, all the shells, and all the games and toys, only to find, each time, that he was happier before adding the clutter to his home. In the end, he decides he really just needs a friend to remind him each time he's happy without the excess.

When Mr. Pack Rat wants to collect all the wonderful things he finds, he turns to his trusty (and magic) magnet. However, as his room overflows with more and more stuff, he’s forced to consider if his hoarding habit really makes him happy.

This is a charming picture book that offers great commentary on finding out what truly makes you happy. Marcus Ewert’s text plays with repetition that ultimately pushes Mr. Pack Rat into a clever dilemma. This also allows for kids’ inreractions during subsequent readings, particularly with all the cute magnet noises!

Kayla Stark’s illustrations are a major highlight. Her sense of color pops on the page as she plays with the earthiness of Mr. Pack Rat’s home and the vibrant world around him.

So you're interested in deep topics for kids. Look no further. Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That is what you've been looking for. Like usual, the cover of this book caught my attention first. It's bright and playful and the rat was so adorable. But then I realized that my husband and daughter, and I'm I'm being brutally honest, myself were all probably considered pack rats too. So then I just had to give it a read and guys. This might be one of my most favorite kids books I've ever reviewed.

Mr. Pack Rat has built a home, but he soon becomes bored of it and tries to find the items that bring him the happiness he's looking for. If this doesn't strike you between the eyes with a bit of "Huh, that sounds like a very obvious, very prevalent world problem," then this deals with one of the biggest problems in our society today. Consumerism.

Mr. Pack Rat finds multiple things that he find beautiful and that make him happy, but when he brings them home with the help of his magical magnet, he still feels unhappy.

About halfway, Mr. Pack Rat makes a wish so big it almost squishes him, he reaches his peak frustration and cries himself to sleep. This was big to me. Frustration and delayed gratitude are a hard subject for parents to introduce to kids and for me, this seemed like a way for kids to grasp the idea of a mistake and often the consequence of the mistake, which is usually feeling pretty crummy and not yet able to sort it out.

When Mr. Pack Rat wakes up the next morning, he almost falls into the same pattern, but shows self-restraint and it leads to his great epiphany: He's been happy all along.

We've seen it here and there. Stuff doesn't make you happy, blahblahblah. But how well are we really reenforcing that notion? Type 'Unhappiness and Consumerism' into Google and you get just over 91,000 results. If you look through the good ones, like this article from the APA, it allcomes back to one thing...

"...when people organize their lives around extrinsic goals such as product acquisition, they report greater unhappiness in relationships, poorer moods and more psychological problems."
Now, I'm not all "BURN THE MONEY AND ALL THE THINGS!!" Because as noted in the APA article, it's not HAVING money that makes people unhappy. It's the STRIVING for it. Basically, the constant drive for more, more, more and better, better, better.

As someone who grew up in a large family with little to no disposable income and parents who taught us and positively reenforced the "money and things aren't what truly matter in life" value, I'm striving to teach my daughter and soon my second daughter the same things, but to be honest, it's a struggle in today's ever producing society.

Needless to say, this book has been pre-ordered for my household. As a teaching tool for my children and as a reminder to myself when I'm scrolling through Instagram wishing my house looked like that, or my wardrobe needs to be gutted and completely updated.

This is a cute little children's book that tells the story of a rat who wanted more and more stuff until he realized he was happier without so much clutter and that friends are what actually makes him happy. It is a great story to teach kids that our relationship with others are much more important than toys or other things. Cute read with great pictures!!