The Cats Are Out Of The Bag

For whatever reason, cats like me.  It would make perfect sense to me that I would give off some type of distinctive smell that says, "I am a totally, over-the-top, lover of dogs so don't bother", but they continue to come to me if we are remotely near one another. What I do know about cats, having never lived with one, has come from reading.

I have the utmost respect for the majesty and prowess of all the big cats; mourning their diminishing numbers on our planet as addressed in author Martin Jenkins' and illustrator Vicky White's Can We Save The Tiger?  When their much smaller domestic relatives become comedic characters portrayed in Splish, Splash, Splat! by Rob Scotton, Fuddles by Fran Vischer, Skippyjon Jones: Class Action by Judy Schachner or Dog In Charge by K. L. Going with illustrations by Dan Santat, I'm chuckling on the inside if not bursting into laughter.  When I read and reread Cat Talk (Katherine Tegen Books) by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest with illustrations by Barry Moser, I came to appreciate their true nature and individuality.


Tough Tom
You opened the window 
And I walked in.
I didn't want to
But it was cold outside
And dark.
And I was hungry.

You opened the window
And I walked in
With a torn ear
And a scratch on my nose.
It was warm
And you had food
And a blanket. ...

Tough Tom is the first of thirteen poems, introducing readers to unique felines named in each poem's title.  Young and old, tall and small, white, black, and all the cat colors in-between, we get to meet them. Quirky personalities, bold, shy, playful, arrogant and slightly sly emanate from the printed page with clever clarity.

A barn cat named Lily thinks her best friend might be a mouse.  The sound of running water in the bathtub has Alice nearly jumping in to join the bubbly fun.  Henry can't get enough of his girl or her wedding gown; it makes the nicest spot for sleeping.


Surely authors Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest must have some kind of magical communication connection to the family of cats to have conveyed them so well.  Or perhaps as authors they both have a very keen sense of observation and the ability to transfer those into the pleasing poetic free verse found in this title.  Their selection of words, how they are joined to complete a thought and their placement on each line depicts the essence of cat; an unmistakable rhythm in their movements and mannerisms.  Choosing to use the voice of each cat in the individual selections makes the reader feel like they are in a private conversation getting the inside scoop.  Here is an example at the end of the poem titled Peony.

... You can hardly see my nose
Pink.
They brush me to keep out tangles and ticks.
What no one knows
Is that under my big coat
I am
Little.


Opening the front and back jacket and matching cover, readers will be entranced with the nearly photographic quality of Barry Moser's paintings; you can almost feel the softness of the fur, hear the gentle purring.  On the back is a single cat looking over his shoulder beneath the poem Simon printed in its entirety.  The blue in the title, Cat Talk, is replicated in the opening and closing endpapers. On the first title page under the title is the back of a cat seated in repose.  With a page turn on the left is the front of the same cat, Tough Tom, opposite a more expansive title page.

The illustrations for Cat Talk were executed in transparent watercolor on paper hand made at the Hayle Mill in Kent, England, for the Royal Watercolour Society.  For six of the poems Moser has extended the picture across the gutter into a third of the opposite page with a clean edge creating a column for the text.  For the other seven his visuals span the two pages leaving liberal amounts of white space to showcase the poetry.  Whether it's a cat creeping through an open kitchen window, contentedly smiling with a mouse on its head, bed sheets with three sets of feet (one feline) protruding from the end or a sleepy cat lying next to a computer mouse on a desk, each are shown in beautiful detail.  I think my favorite is of Henry, a charcoal cat, eyes closed on his back nestled in the folds of the white dress.


The first person (cat) poetic free verse written by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest illustrated with the warm, softly rendered paintings of Barry Moser are a purr-fect pairing in Cat Talk. You don't have to be a friend of felines to appreciate this beautiful volume.  It would be outstanding to use during National Poetry Month along with Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech or with Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told In Haiku by Lee Wardlaw with illustrations by Eugene Yelchin.


Please follow this link to the publisher web site to get a glimpse inside the book.  The links embedded in the author and illustrator names provide more information about them and their considerable work.

A Cheesy Cat, A Literate Mouse, Oh, My, What A House!

Every since reading the blog post, Of Mice... ,  by Jonathan Hunt at Heavy Medal:  A Mock Newbery, reading those books listed became a personal goal.  To date, of the five mentioned, three have been read and reviewed on this blog (well, after this post anyway).  I am quite fond of  Richard Peck's Secrets at Sea and Cynthia Voight's Young Fredle but The Cheshire Cheese Cat:  A Dickens Of A Tale written by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright with drawings by Barry Moser is in a distinctive class all its own.

At Publishers Weekly on September 22, 2011 a Q & A with Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright was posted explaining how the collaboration between the two transpired.  While this title is completely engaging, without a doubt, as I was devouring the pages I kept thinking how, despite the years of work, these two authors must have had so many moments of sheer fun; the wordplay within this title is so precisely and perfectly witty beginning with the first two lines:

HE WAS THE BEST OF TOMS.  He was the worst of toms. 

Skilley, a streetwise cat with several closely guarded secrets and without a home to call his own, a vagrant lurking about hoping to steal what nourishment he can, longingly gazes at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub of quite some renown, on Fleet Street in Victorian London.  When the fierce, demented ginger cat, Pinch slinks up gazing with the same sense of need at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese an idea is planted in Skilley's mind; an idea so outlandish that it might work.  Out of desire, even the most basic, changes are apt to come; changes that will in the end determine the very balance of the British Empire.

To the dismay of the mouse population at Ye Old Cheshire Cheese, numbering in the thousands, the word cat is heard mentioned in conversation. Pip with secrets of his own is, while not the oldest mouse in residence, an esteemed member of the council and a dear friend of the innkeeper's daughter, Nell.  A whiff of the famous Cheshire Cheese lands Pip in Skilley's mouth.

Skilley had found a way into Ye Old Cheshire Cheese when a door was opened by Charles Dickens and his writer friend.  Assured now with a place as the new mouser, he takes Pip downstairs where the two upon closer examination see that each is no typical cat or mouse.  A bargain is struck; a bargain that may be the undoing of both as some secrets are revealed but others are still concealed.

All seems to be going well for the duo regardless of dodging the cranky cook, Croomes, maker of the famous cheese and the shifty, shrill, barmaid Adele who loathes mice.  But one day Adele determines that two cats might be better than one and the malevolent Pinch becomes party to the comings and goings at the tavern.  The odds for Skilley, Pip, a multitude of mice and yes, Croomes have shifted.

Many elements, Pip's gift of words that would put many a crossword maker to shame, Skilley's shame battling against the loyalty for his friends, the ghost haunting the attic which is really wise Maldwyn, property of the Queen Victoria Herself, Dickens's notes peppered throughout the story as well as his observations within the tale, the thievery and secrets abounding are artfully blended using words so well that readers will be amazed and delighted.  Language of the times, allusions to the books, words, and characters of Dickens and pure craftsmanship have created a classic.  What follows is the brief musing of Maldwyn.

Cat.
Even the word was distasteful to him.  It was a small mean word, one that began harshly and ended crossly.

When Skilley first enters the inn's kitchen this is his impression.

On the other side, the smells melded into an enticing confusion of the savory and the sweet.  And oh, the clanking and clanging!  To Skilley's ears they were like bells that hammered out a song to gaiety and ...food, food, food!

This description of the cook's mouth after an exclamation had me laughing out loud.

Even the fires shrank back from the horrific voice that boomed from a mouth---no, a gaping maw---that could have swallowed Admiral Nelson's fleet in a single gulp.

That Barry Moser is the illustrator collaborator with Deedy and Wright is, as they say, the cherry on top of an otherwise delectable supreme dessert.  His graphite drawings on translucent vellum bring to life the flavor of this era, the natural characteristics of the animals and the distinct personalities of the humans.  Readers will laugh when they see Croomes the cook, shudder at pictures of Pinch and Adele, nod knowingly at the Henry the innkeeper in his night clothes, sigh at the sight of Nell and smile at all the portrayals of Pip and Skilley.  Masterpieces by the hand of a master.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat:  A Dickens Of A Tale is a historical fantasy not to be missed.  Authors Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall have given readers a rare gem that begs to be shared as a read aloud or among friends in a reading group. References to historical characters, most notably Dickens, do not deter but enhance the tale; even inviting an exploration into the writer and his works.  I give this my highest recommendation for upper elementary on up; there is something for everyone in this book.

Carmen Agra Deedy has a delightful web site which is linked above with her name.  A charming, informative web site on this individual title can be found by following the additional link above.

If you are thinking of using this title as a lead-in to a study of Dickens you might want to consider using the resources at The Learning Network, Teaching Dickens With The New York Times.  Dickens 200th birthday anniversary is February 7, 2012.

Two World Leaders and A Christmas

It's a given that I have enjoyed the pursuit of history for as far back as I can remember; fiction or fact.  For me the crucial key to bringing a blast from the past from the dry, mundane statements frequently found in textbooks to a vital, living reflection is the extent of research that leads to humanizing the players and events.  In Franklin and Winston:  A Christmas That Changed the World (Candlewick Press, September 13, 2011) written by Douglas Wood and illustrated by Barry Moser the particular days addressed within are as if I was witness to them only yesterday.

It was the winter of 1941.  The valiant battleship HMS Duke of York struggled against the screaming winds and forty-foot waves of a mighty December gale.

Winston S. Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain is on his way to the United States to spend Christmas with President Franklin D. Roosevelt of these United States.  A subtle insertion, truly seeming as part of the story, by author Wood gives a short background into the dreams of a youthful Churchill coupled with his trials, tribulations and staunch attitude in leading the British people up to this point.  He is most anxious to complete the crossing to brainstorm with President Roosevelt on what they might do to fight their enemies and bring peace to the world.

In Washington D. C. Roosevelt awaits the arrival of the prime minister feeling the heaviness of his presidential responsibilities in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Wood relates the philosophy that Roosevelt has held since boyhood about service to his country despite polio attacking his body.  He and Churchill have the same end goal---a world that is safe for our children.

Amid the formalities of the Christmas and New Year festivities, White House dinners and press conferences the two met surrounded by strategists daily for nearly a month many times late into the night. Winston made for an unusual and entertaining guest roaming the halls at all hours; the two would pop into each others' rooms unannounced if something weighed on their minds.  Roosevelt and Churchill cemented a friendship that would last a lifetime. 

The day after Christmas Churchill addressed the Congress of the United States of America.  Given the well earned reputation as a speaker of the highest caliber, the ideas proposed by Churchill were hardily embraced by those in attendance and by the American people listening on their radios.  This Grand Alliance named "The Declaration of the United Nations" did indeed alter the destiny facing countries throughout the world at that time and has to this day far-reaching effects.

Douglas Wood known for his titles, Old Turtle, Grandad's Prayers of the Earth and Nothing to Do, breaths life into Roosevelt and Churchill through those intimate details about each which his research, primary and secondary sources listed in a bibliography at the book's end, revealed.  The personal, inspirational quotes of each leader carefully placed throughout the narrative make readers feel as though they are the proverbial "fly on the wall".  The little tidbits of information, Churchill being too excited to sleep that first night to the extent that he had to take a sleeping pill, are what elevate these men of history from names on paper to real flesh and blood persons.

Wood includes a listing of accomplishments that arose from this meeting in his Afterword.  In an Author's Note he speaks of growing up hearing of this time in history, his father serving in Italy and Arabia during World War II and of other male family members service in other parts of the world, just as I did, my father having served in the units stationed on the Aleutian Islands.

As the winds of northern Michigan howl around my home this evening, we have yet again another gale warning on Lake Michigan and along the shoreline, it is not too hard to imagine the crossing Churchill made across the Atlantic that December in 1941 especially when the outstanding skills of illustrator Barry Moser grace the book's pages capturing the essence of the people and events like the lens of a camera.  On the last page of the book readers see:

The book was designed and typeset by Barry Moser, who also composed and designed the illustrations. 

Using transparent watercolor on papers made in Fabriano, Italy, Moser used historical photographs, which were freely cropped, modified, and merged into totally new images by the illustrator.

Most of these illustrations belong framed and hanging on a museum wall but Moser commands that respect for his work.  Readers feel that if they were to reach out and touch a character they would be warm, alive.  The use of black and white only on the first visual of the ship crossing the ocean toward the United States portrays the chilling danger of the voyage.  It contrasts, as it should, with the warmth of the lighting of the national Christmas tree when both Roosevelt and Churchill spoke or the energy of Churchill's speech to Congress.

Author Douglas Wood and illustrator Barry Moser, both outstanding in their individual endeavors, together are masterful.  Captivating nonfiction, although in picture book format, belonging in any setting for personal or educational purposes whatever the age is what Franklin and Winston:  A Christmas That Changed the World offers impressively.