Cats Can be Curious Creatures

Image | Posted on September 5, 2022 by Book Buddy Writer

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image.png — *BottomlessBookBag* post by Dr. Carol Brown

Are you a cat lover? I have been in the past. I owned a beautiful Siamese with champagne colored fur. Tinker was a cute kitten but grew to be a rather feisty “tom”. And, yet, he was beautiful with his special markings and turquoise eyes.

Books about cats can share a similar kind of paradox. They can be beautiful, fun, helpful, disturbing, as well as unsettling. The cat in Paula Fox’s Newbery award winner, The One-Eyed Cat is not cute or pretty. He is a feral with scrappy body and ragged fur. Sadly, the hero of the story -jumped-the-gun- so to speak by sneaking an early Christmas present out behind the house so he could practice the feel of the weapon in his nine year old hands. An accidental discharge from the gun took the cat’s eye and left our hero with a year’s worth of guilt and remorse. But, good was worked out of the bad when the young boy developed a deep and lasting friendship with an elderly neighbor. The boy inherited wisdom, compassion, and helpful strategies for the feeding and care of a wild cat with only one eye. This book is sad, funny, unsettling, and about as real-world as any I’ve ever read. It is perfect for older elementary through high school readers. It’s especially meaningful for animal lovers.

One-Eyed CAT by Paula Fox and illustrated by Erika Meltzer is a Newbery award honor book. Published by Simon & Schuster (latest edition)

Do you like fables, those moral tales with animals playing the part of humans?

*The Cat From Hunger Mountain* written and illustrated by Ed Young. (Penguin Random House, 2016)

I know of a very good Caldecott award winner with creative images made from a variety of materials to form collages of a very hungry cat. The Cat From Hunger Mountain by Ed Young teaches a good lesson about greed and gluttony. The storyline is easy to follow but the vocabulary could be above most primary age children. This provides a perfect opportunity for read aloud. The adult reader can improvise and explain the unknown words and some of the abstract concepts in the story. This is a great book for middle school readers, especially those with an interest in the visual arts. It is also a good reminder that greed is a universal failing, one that can bring some very hard life-lessons.

Both One-Eyed Cat and The Cat from Hunger Mountain are good springboards for research projects. Depending on the ages of your students, you could delve more deeply into the following topics:

World Hunger

Nutrition and Healthful Living

Gun Safety

Relationships between the very young and the very old.