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A review by glanecia
Cat Tales: True Stories of Fantastic Felines by Penelope Rich
4.0
I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book, and would definitely recommend it to middle-grade students who are researching true stories about cats. It would also be an enjoyable read for older people who happen to adore cat stories. I certainly enjoyed it.
I appreciated the way this book organized topics into sections such as Cat Heroes, Cat Jobs, etc. However, I did not like how the introductions to each section were written. The introductions presented material that was repeated again in the section itself. The book only needs to present the information one time. The same art was also used in more than one location in the book.
I adored the art. It was part of the reason I asked to review this book. Although the art was very cute, I think the book could be improved by using actual photographs of the cats and people who were owned by them. True stories deserve real photos. Perhaps a mixture of photography and art could be have been used.
I loved most of the stories in this book. I'm grateful that they included a list of recommended books for further reading. I'm certainly going to read the book "A Street Cat Named Bob".
There is one story that did not sit well with me. It's an unfortunate story about Félicette, the Russian cat who was sent up to space as an experiment. This is NOT a "cat job", any more than it's the job of a Beagle dog to be experimented on in a laboratory. Although we do learn much from these experiments, I think it's heartless to call it anything other than what it was. It was an experiment. That cat had no choice. She suffered a brain injury from those experiments. She died from her "job". The other "cat jobs" are heartwarming stories, and this story is simply not heartwarming. It doesn't belong in the section of "Cat Jobs".
As a whole, I did enjoy the book. It's worth a read!
I enjoyed this book, and would definitely recommend it to middle-grade students who are researching true stories about cats. It would also be an enjoyable read for older people who happen to adore cat stories. I certainly enjoyed it.
I appreciated the way this book organized topics into sections such as Cat Heroes, Cat Jobs, etc. However, I did not like how the introductions to each section were written. The introductions presented material that was repeated again in the section itself. The book only needs to present the information one time. The same art was also used in more than one location in the book.
I adored the art. It was part of the reason I asked to review this book. Although the art was very cute, I think the book could be improved by using actual photographs of the cats and people who were owned by them. True stories deserve real photos. Perhaps a mixture of photography and art could be have been used.
I loved most of the stories in this book. I'm grateful that they included a list of recommended books for further reading. I'm certainly going to read the book "A Street Cat Named Bob".
There is one story that did not sit well with me. It's an unfortunate story about Félicette, the Russian cat who was sent up to space as an experiment. This is NOT a "cat job", any more than it's the job of a Beagle dog to be experimented on in a laboratory. Although we do learn much from these experiments, I think it's heartless to call it anything other than what it was. It was an experiment. That cat had no choice. She suffered a brain injury from those experiments. She died from her "job". The other "cat jobs" are heartwarming stories, and this story is simply not heartwarming. It doesn't belong in the section of "Cat Jobs".
As a whole, I did enjoy the book. It's worth a read!