Mort the rat looks at the book he helped inspire "Mort the Flightless Rat." The book was written and illustrated by Scarlet Haroldson, a 19-year-old East Lansing resident. (Courtesy photo)

19-Year-Old East Lansing Author Publishes First Book: “Mort the Flightless Rat”

Like most kids, Scarlet Haroldson wanted to fly. Inspired by the movie Rio, she drew wings and a beak, taped them to herself and jumped off the couch. She also enjoyed writing small books, gifting them to family and friends.

Roughly 15 years later, while looking for a way to pass the time, Haroldson started writing a book. She found inspiration in her childhood hobbies and a newly adopted pet: a rat named Mort.

Scarlet Haroldson pretended to fly after creating a beak and wings as a child. More than a decade later, the moment helped inspire a book she wrote and illustrated, “Mort the Flightless Rat.” (Courtesy photo)

“He is just the craziest little thing ever,” Haroldson said. “He has so much character for being such a small rodent. He tries to steal pieces of pizza off of my plate and drag them into his crate, because he does free roam the apartment. But I just think he’s such a spunky, chaotic guy. I thought that he’d be interesting for younger readers to read about.”

Haroldson wrote, illustrated, formatted and published her first book: “Mort the Flightless Rat.”

“I’ve always done drawing and fun illustrations or doodles, and I thought it’d be fun to just kind of see if I could make an actual book out of that,” Haroldson said.

The book follows Mort on a quest to fly. He tries, and fails, countless times until he discovers all he needed was a little help from his bird friend. 

“I think a lot of younger readers think that there’s a lot of limits to what you can do in life,” Haroldson, who works at a local daycare, said about the message of the book, “And I think that it’s important to try and reach farther, because you never know what’s going to happen.”

The cover of “Mort the Flightless Rat.” (Courtesy image)

Haroldson also received help from her grandmother, Laurie Kuiper, a retired special education teacher who edited the book. Kuiper said she appreciates the educational themes of the book.

“What I really like is that Mort doesn’t give up,” Kuiper said. “He kind of has that growth mindset that we try to encourage students to have, that you can learn from your mistakes and it’s okay to make mistakes. Also, he’s willing to ask for help and accept help, which is something that I worked with my students on all the time.”

Kuiper said she was proud of Haroldson for creating the book, and has read it to several young relatives, who all enjoyed it.

“I think the illustrations are a lot of fun, and the language is easy enough for little kids,” Kuiper said. “It’s kind of written in an entertaining way, so that even kids that are a little bit older will get some humor out of it, and it’s fun to read out loud as well.”

Haroldson said her parents, who the book is dedicated to, also helped. They gave ideas and support when she was stuck. Haroldson is grateful for the amount of support she received from her family.

“My entire family posted it on Facebook, and I was not expecting a lot of the teachers at the daycare that I work at to purchase the book,” Haroldson said. “I also was not expecting daycare families to ask me to sign their books. It was really cool. It made me feel special.”

Like Mort, Haroldson encouraged other potential young authors to be determined.

“It can be tough and you might feel discouraged, but if it’s something that you really want, then you’ve got to push forward,” Haroldson said. “There will be obstacles, but once you get through them, it’s definitely worth it to see the book in your hands.”

In the back of the book is a picture of books Haroldson wrote as a child. 

One of them —  a story about a mouse.