Little Brown Bushrat is a children's book by writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 and illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 Georgie Ripper

Georgie Ripper

Georgie Ripper is a children's book illustrator known for her work on the Rainbow Magic series of fairy books. She won the Macmillan Prize for Picture Book Illustration in 2000 with My Best Friend Bob and Little Brown Bushrat which she authored and illustrated...

, that tells the story of a little brown bushrat discovering that he has special talent. The book is the winner of The Macmillan Prize for Children's Illustration in 2000.

Little Brown Bushrat was initially published in 2002 in the United Kingdom by Macmillan

Macmillan Publishers

Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...

 Children's Books (ISBN 0-333-96083-1) as a 32-page hardback edition, was followed by a paperback edition. It was penned for readers aged three to seven, and is 546 words long.

Plot

The protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 is a little brown bushrat. All the animals in the bush have an exciting talent - the kangaroo

Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...

 can jump the highest, the emu

Emu

The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...

 can run the fastest and the duck-billed platypus is the best swimmer. But the little brown bushrat thinks he can't do anything . . . until he is given a chance to save the day.