Three Cats, Three Books

The weather this past weekend was a bit chilly, but it didn't keep kids from creating a little art at the market chalk-a-palooza where I manage. I passed out chalk and caramel apple suckers to the kids and sold almost everything from my table making it a pretty stellar day. And while I love the market, I am glad it's behind me as I am looking forward to taking a little break from baking until the holidays.

Something else I did this past month was run a cross a blurb showing that September was designated as Happy Cat Month. And though we are a few days into October now, I thought it would be fun to share three cat books I read for the occasion. But before I do, I'd like to introduce you to our family's three cats, Max, Daisy, and Fluffy.

Max

Daisy

Fluffy

 Do you see the theme I snuck in there?  Three cats owned, three books read!

The first book I read was titled, The big Meow. The story tells the tale of Little Cat who has a big meow. A meow much bigger than the meow's of his peers, and one that causes the others to leave him out of all their fun and games. That is until Little Cat uses his big meow to save the other kittens from Bruno the bullying Bulldog.

The next title was a cute book called, Cat Skidoo. Cat Skidoo takes the reader on a journey as they follow two kittens who are curious and manage to get into lots of mischief. This book would be great for kids four to six and has some very fun illustrations to admire along the way.

And last but certainly not least since it was my favorite of the three books was Goyangi Means Cat. It is the story of a small girl from Korea, Soo Min, who comes to America after being adopted. Her new parents only know four words of Korean but they have a Goyangi or cat. The cat helps Soo Min adjust to her new home that is different from anything she has ever known. But one day, the cat slips out the door and, Soo Min and her mother spend the day combing the neighbor hood for the naughty kitty.

I loved so many things about this book. I love the story's depiction of how a child might feel in a new and strange place no matter how loving the adoptive parents are. I love that she finds comfort in the family cat. and I love how both the parents and Soo Min make effort to learn each other's languages. But most of all, I loved the illustrations by husband and wife team Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. What they created on the pages of this book was a tapestry of Asian characters and patterns that made me the Korean culture a bit more deeply.

Since all these titles are a little older, I suggest you check you local library first. If that fails, there are some used copies floating around and Goyangi Means Cat is readily available in both Kindle and Nook form.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.