The Cat Came Back - Hardcover

Penner, Fred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1596430303 ISBN 13: 9781596430303

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, 2005

Synopsis

This handsome book has a built-in audience -- the thousands of children who have delighted in Fred Penner's music and signature song, The Cat Came Back. The story is simple: old Mr. Johnson is driven round the bend by a pesky cat who just won't let him nap in peace. The familiar words and infectious rhythm invite children to join in and read along. Renee Reichert's luscious pastels complete the entertainment, making a standout picture book and a perfect gift.

About this title

About the Author:

Fred Penner has recorded 12 albums of music for children, with sales of well over one million copies. He tours continually throughout the United States and Canada but makes his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Renee Reichert is the recipient of the Society of Illustrators' Certificate of Merit, among other awards. This is her first picture book. She lives in Centerport, New York, with her family and her 18-year-old orange cat, Theodore, who was the inspiration for the cat in this book.

From Booklist:

PreS-Gr. 2. Like many songs transferred to picture-book form, this nineteenth-century folk ballad loses much in the translation. Divorced from cues of tune and tempo, the flat-footed verses about a battle of wills between an old man and a persistent stray cat are likely to leave newcomers cold. But young listeners and adult readers who arrive armed with mental soundtracks will embrace this original adaptation by Canadian singer-songwriter Penner. Though there's much that is different from Penner's recordings of the tune, this retains traces of the traditional song's irreverent, macabre humor, with cat-shooing attempts escalating from calling the humane society to exporting the irrepressible feline to Mars. Reichert's appealing oils fill in for the absent music to help soften the potentially cruel words. When Mr. Johnson "[gives] the cat the boot," for instance, the animal is not drop-kicked but gently deposited upon the front walk. In fact, the deeply colored paintings, aswirl with lithe feline energy, are likely to draw children unacquainted with the song, so it's a shame that there is no musical notation or source information appended. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1596430303
• ISBN 13: 9781596430303
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Reichert Renee