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This Story is Not About a Kitten
CCBC Review:
“This story is not about a kitten.” But of course it is. It’s also about community, cooperation, and cumulative storytelling. While a girl and her mother (both Black) are out walking, their dog spots a kitten hiding under a car, “hungry and dirty, scared and alone, meowing sadly, needing a home.” It marks the start of a rescue effort that also involves others in their neighborhood. Each individual and their contribution is introduced before the previous characters and actions are reiterated in a text patterned on “The House That Jack Built.” A break in the pattern heightens the drama as the kitten is finally lured into a box. “This story is not about the child who asked, ‘Could we?’ ... or the man who offered some milk, or the twins who brought a box, or the woman who held the dog ...” It’s not about a kitten “now full-bellied and clean, no longer alone, purring happily. Home.” Lively text and colorful gouache illustrations tell an irresistible story inspired by a real-life rescue of a kitten in the author’s Brooklyn neighborhood. ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
Illustrated by Carson Ellis
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 3-8
Age Range:
Babies/Toddlers (birth – 3)
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format:
Picture book
Subjects:
Community
Empathy and Compassion
Helpfulness
Patterned text/Repetition
Pets
Diversity subject:
Multicultural General
Publishers:
Random House, Random House Studio
Publish Year: 2022
Pages: 40
ISBN: 9780593374535
CCBC Location: Picture Book, de Seve