Toto The Tornado Kitten (2012)

Toto The Tornado Kitten by Jonathan Hall (2012) appears to be a self-published book about a true story. Toto was born a wild kitten. When a tornado blew through the landscape, Toto landed in a tree. It was rescued and eventually adopted. Illustrations by Carol Ruzicka show Toto’s journey through many kind, helpful people. More information is at www.totothetornadokitten.com 

*Katje the Windmill Cat (2001)

Katje the Windmill Cat by Gretchen Woelfle (2001) is about a famous cat that saves a baby during the Saint Elizabeth’s Flood of 1421. Katje lives  “with Nico the miller in a Dutch village by the sea.” Life is easy. Nico grinds wheat into flower and Katje catches mice. One day, Nico takes a wife and Katje’s life changes. When baby Anneke arrives, she and Katje bond immediately. They play in Anneke’s cradle. But mother Lena disapproves and shoos Katje away with words that foreshadow the drama that follows. Katje moves into the windmill but sometimes sneaks into the house to play with Anneke. Katje and the baby are playing when sea water breaks through the nearby dike and sweeps them both away. 

Beautiful paintings by Nicola Bayley contribute to this well-crafted work of art. She includes blue and white Dutch tiles along the border of most pages. 

My Picture Book Talk lesson for this story is here. 

Big Cat Dreaming (1996)

 Big Cat Dreaming by Margaret Wild (1996) was a pleasant surprise. The child narrator is not named; however they visit Grandma with a little sister on holidays. Grandma has a Big Cat and Small Dog. The cat is very big. I wonder if it's a Maine Coon. But this story isn't actually about the cat. This story is about dreaming of younger days. Big Cat falls asleep first, and Naomi asks Grandma what the cat is dreaming. Grandma says "'firecracker kittens, full of fizz and hiss.'" Small Dog dreams of puppy days, "'digging here, digging there, chewing this, chewing that.'" When Grandma wakes up from a nap, she says she dreamed of her childhood playing hide and seek. In the evening, the two children join two neighbors to play hide and seek in the dark. Then, Grandma goes outside and joins in the fun. Anne Spudvilas' paintings are soft and lovely, beautiful additions to the text. 

Mapping Sam (2021)

 Mapping Sam by Joyce Hesselberth (2021) at first glance looks like a book Sam the cat's night time  travels. And it is, partially. It's really about maps. It's a narrative introduction to many kinds of maps. After Sam's family is asleep, this tabby slips out the back door. We see her leap over a fence, trot through grass, roll across a yard, and climb her favorite tree. Turn the page and we see a top-down diagram of where's she's been, a map complete with compass and scale. Turn the page and there's a two-page spread of Sam's skeleton and internal organs, a map of Sam. Sam doesn't just smell a flower; this flower is labeled: stamen, petal, pistil, and so on--a map of the plant. The illustrations continue this theme to measure the depth of water, a water molecule, the earth, solar system, and so on. The illustrations contrast Sam's bright orange coat against shades of blue and green and fill every square inch of the pages. The final page has a glossary featuring thumbnails and descriptions of each map in the story. 

Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival (2008)

Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival  by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery (2008) is a feel good tale about a dog and a cat coping with Hurricane Katrina. An authors' note on the first page says "No one knows for sure how they met." So, the story has some fiction blended in with real events. These pet companions were each given the name Bobbi because neither one had a tail. At the beginning of the book, they are together inside a home, watching the rain, wind and flooding. They're alone because when people evacuated the area, many people "were told they could not take their pets." When the storm ends, the pets leave home and wander the abandoned streets. Packs of homeless dogs chase them. Four months later, they appear on a construction site, and a generous worker feeds them. The dog is highly protective of his feline friend. When they're separated at an animal shelter, the dog howls and barks until they are reunited in the same cage. Details about the ending create a satisfying surprise, so I won't give it away here. Pictures by Jean Cassels show the devastation in New Orleans and the pets' camaraderie. 

Mama Cat has three kittens (2002)

In Mama Cat has three kittens, Denise Fleming found a way to showcase her art and create a simple story with a satisfying twist. Very young children will love the bright yellows, greens, browns, and even blacks that fill large two-page spreads. A black mama cat (brightened with blues, purples, and white) has a black, calico, and orange tabby kitten. Two kittens copy Mama doing typical outdoor-cat things (except hunt), but the tabby naps through it all. Every page is energetic. This book is so brilliant that it could be read at a nursery school circle time and the children would see the action easily. I recall watching a presentation that described Fleming’s complex process of illustration. She puts a lot of work into her pictures and the results are stunning. 

*Thelonious Mouse (2011)

*Thelonious Mouse by Orel Protopopescu  (2011) is a joyful story for the very young music lover. Thelonious Mouse “had too much music in him to stuff into a mousehole. He had to let it out.” This mouse tap-dances and prances. He claps and slaps the walls in a home of a cat. While his parents and siblings shake at the prospect of waking the sleeping feline, Thelonious skitters and twitters on a table singing “Nibblety dribblety cheeit! Icky ticky old fleabit!” Fat cat chases Thelonious more than once in this story. When Thelonious discovers a tiny, toy piano, he doesn’t hear the cat coming. All he hears is the sound of the piano keys. “A click-a-keys, a lick-a-cheese, a jingling, tingling sends me in a swoon.” And yet, his musical genius saves the day, and the future. This is a brilliantly written story illustrated by Anne Wisdorf .

Cats in the Sun (1990)

 Cats in the Sun by Lesley Anne Ivory (1990) is a book about cats enjoying sunshine, usually outside. Her paintings are beautiful. Her cats are realistic, and her settings are so lovely that I wanted to step into the scenery and feel the warm sun for myself. There are cats perched on window sills, cats by a harbor, cats with kittens, cats in flower beds and on gorgeous, tiled floors. I cringe at the idea of so many cats outside; maybe some of them are strays and others killing wildlife. But, when I put that aside for a moment, I can gaze in awe at Ivory’s art.

Hondo and Fabian (2002)

 

Hondo and Fabian by PeterMcCarty. (2002) is a day in the life of a dog and a cat. Peter McCarty’s illustrations are soft, translucent images in a range of  beige.  Maybe we’re seeing the difference between a dog and a cat at play. Hondo goes to the beach and runs around in the ocean waves with another dog. The cat stays home and as playmate for a toddler. Fabian’s idea of fun is to unroll the toilet paper. I never knew you could create such a simple picture book. Yet, it earned a Caldecott Honor. I don’t really understand this book except to say that a young child might love it. There is no rising action, no conflict, no resolution. It’s a slice of life.

Millions of Cats (1928)

 I picked up this book because I heard Giuseppe Castalano mention it in an episode of The Illustration Podcast. Millions of Cats by Wanda Ga’g won a Newberry Honor Award in 1929. It’s the story of an old man who set out to find a cat for his wife. He came across a hill covered with cats and brought them all home. He chose one cat he thought was the prettiest, but then saw another one he thought was also very pretty, and then he saw another and another. His wife cried that it was impossible to keep them all. When he asked the “hundreds of cats, Thousands of cats,Millions and billions and trillions of cats which one was the prettiest, they fought amongst themselves. The disappearance of all these cats is a little ambiguous, but one kitten is left. It survived because it believed it was “a very homely little cat “. So this is a lesson in modesty? I don’t know, but it’s a fun story. The illustrations appear to be pen and ink drawings and they are charming.

The works of Wanda Gag are at the Whitney Museum of American Art March - December 2024. 

Meet My Cats (1989)

 

Meet My Cats by Leslie Anne Ivory (1989) has astonishingly beautiful paintings of cats. The settings are also gorgeous. Gemma, Twiglet, Spiro, and Blossom are framed by luscious foliage. Muppet, Gabrielle, Chesterton, Maltazer, Agneatha, Octopussy, Motley, and Amon Ra appear before elaborately patterned wallpaper, carpet, lace, and home interiors. The reader gazes in awe at the compositions. Ivory’s description of her pets will cause cat owners to chuckle. Of course, each cat is unique. One stole a collection of feathers and hid them behind a dish towel. Another tucks Ivory into bed each night. Two don't get along and three coordinate to lift the lid of a neighbor's garbage can.  

Now 30 years post publication, some readers will frown upon the multiple litters of kittens. Modern day readers will worry about the wildlife casualties 12 cats can cause roaming free outdoors. These issues can spark conversation.  

Green Eyes (1953)

 

GreenEyes by Abe Birnbaum won a Caldecott Honor in 1954. In this book, Birnbaum’s bright paintings illustrate a story about the happy life of a kitten. In the first half of the story, Green Eyes tells how life began in a big wide box. When Green Eyes escapes the box, an exciting world awaits. But not too exciting. There is no rising action, none of the requisite tension in modern narratives. Green Eyes simply revels in discovering a world outside the box. This first year is told in the past tense as Green Eyes reflects upon a year of firsts: farm animals next door, cool grass in summer, falling leaves in autumn, snowflakes in winter. Half way through the book, Green Eyes speaks in the future tense and predicts the year ahead. Much bigger now relative to the box, the four seasons of the future show a happy, albeit more mellow cat.

 My Picture Book Talk lesson for this story is here. 

This book is read aloud online by Miss Trudi's Bookshelf.

Young readers may enjoy painting their own cats with Ehlke Art.

 

Timothy Tib (2001)

Timothy Tib by Liz Graham-Yooll is a page-by-page description of the many characteristics of the cat we see beneath the title. He’s walking toward us, tail raised in friendly greeting (Cox). On the left side of each two-page spread is story and a pencil sketch; on the right side is an oil painting of Timothy Tib. Each page of text has only two sentences.  The first sentence presents as two lines that rhyme, so students are exposed to both rhyme and lengthy sentence structure. The second sentence is italicized and summarizes the previous rhyme, usually with an adjective. For example, ”And sometimes he will stare for hours at lizards hunting in the flowers. Timothy Tib is a curious cat.” A painting puts the three lines of text in picture form. This book can function as an English lesson in disguise.

 At first glance, this may look like a book for young readers because the print is large and the text sparse. But there’s nothing childish here. This is my favorite kind of book for the older student who struggles with reading. The language is appropriate for any age and the illustrations are fine art.

This book is read aloud online for the young child by gnidraham, The older student may enjoy a documentary about domestic cats by Pets & Vets.

 My Picture Book Talk lesson for this story is here. 

Wabi Sabi (2008)

 

Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein is a skillful tale about “a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture”. The main character is a cat named Wabi Sabi. This is the story of her journey to learn the meaning of her name. It’s written with both prose and haiku—in “the haibun form, where short prose passages set up each haiku.” Reibstein provides backmatter and translations of  14 Japanese haiku that appear throughout the book.

The collage art by Ed Young is exceptional. His  illustrations are wabi sabi artworks; unfortunately, they lose a bit of their potency on the flat page. Many thanks to BooksVideosTV for introducing us to Young, his art, and specifically, an account of how he created art for this book. The older student and adult will benefit from reading Mark Mitchell’s blog for more information. 

This magnificent book is read aloud by Read Aloud with Ms Caudle .

 After reading wabi sabi: the japanese art of impermanence by Andrew Juniper, I interpreted Wabi Sabi’s journey as representing the tea ceremony. Juniper writes that participants in the tea ceremony “leave  their petty world behind”, perhaps the city that Wabi Sabi passes through.  He references “livid autumn colors of maple leaves”, which we see in Young’s illustrations. I now see the wise, old monkey as the tea master. “The perfect clarity of mind and seamless movements of the master evoke a hypnotic effect in the participants, who then can become one with the mind and spirit of the tea master.” (Juniper 40) After the tea ceremony, Wabi Sabi understands the meaning of her name.

A little research into haiku reveals controversy over how it’s taught requiring a specific syllable structure. The English haiku in Wabi Sabi all have the 5 – 7 – 5 syllable form. Translations of the Japanese haiku free readers from this structure and allow them to attend to on other aspects of the poetry.

My Picture Book Talk for this story is here.

The Weather Cat (1989)

       The Weather Cat by Helen Cresswell (1989) is an easy reader for ages 6 through 8, which may explain the lack of challenging vocabulary. Naomi and her brother Otis find that a stray cat has wandered into the open door of their kitchen. "After a week or two, Naomi begins to notice something." The cat's behavior corresponds with whether there will be rain or sun. When the cat predicts a sunny day, Naomi's dad doesn't take an umbrella to work ,and Naomi's mom does the wash (because she will be able to hang it up on the line to dry.) When the cat's behavior suddenly changes, there is a predictable surprise. Barbara Walker's illustrations are colorful and have a friendly, casual feel. I am bothered by the presence of a white doll in several illustrations given that this is a Black family. This is a slice-of-life story; there is no problem, no mystery, and no conflict.

     Kristin Irish has Elementary Art - Abstract Cats. Glass Half Full has Free Cat Lovers Clip Art. Teacher - Dad has Skip Counting - Picture Strip Puzzles - Cats - Counts by Twos.

 

Three Samurai Cats (2004)

      Three Samurai Cats shows young readers that wisdom can take an unexpected form. A powerful lord believes that physical power and skill will solve his problem.  When two imposing samurai fail to remove an abominable rat from his castle, the daimyo accepts the help of Neko Roshi, the most decrepit samurai cat he'd ever seen. Neko Roshi appears to do nothing but eat and sleep--until precisely the right moment.

       Eric A. Kimmel's author's note explains that "The samurai were the knights of medieval Japan. Most followed the practices and teachings of Zen Buddhism, which emphasized stillness, meditation, and harmony with nature." Mordicai Gerstein's illustrations are colorful and active, often depicting a sequence of actions on a single page. 

     Organized Art Chaos has an Origami - Samurai Hat. TeachingWithSavvy has a Japan Worksheet Bundle. Academic Sparkle has Zen Zone Task Cards and The Sunflower has ZEN Zone box - editable letter to Teachers and Staff.

     

*Comic & Curious CATS (1979)

      I have a soft spot for alphabet books. I've been collecting them for several years. Comic & Curious CATS by Martin Leman is an art gallery dedicated to our feline friends. Angela Carter fills the book with a plethora of vocabulary. "I love my cat with an H Inspite of his Hypochondria Because he is Handsome And Humane His name is Horatio He lives in Hastings He eats Herrings, Hake And Haddock Happily". 

     E J Samuwel has Aimee and Fluffy the Cat: ABC's Are FUNdamental. Julie Ridge Designs has Animal Alphabet Coloring Pages: C is for Cat. You can buy a used copy of this book on Amazon.