The Kitten With No Name by Vivian French and Selina Young
| The Kitten With No Name by Vivian French and Selina Young | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Kerry King
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| Summary: Poor lost Kitten. He doesn't have a name or a home to call his own. All he wants is to find a warm and cosy place where someone will love him. Will anyone help this little kitten? | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 96 | Date: March 2011 |
| Publisher: Orion Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1444000788 | |
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The Kitten With No Name lives under a hedge with his mummy. It's a very big hedge but it's very cosy and The Kitten's mummy has told him that one day, they will all go and live in a new home with someone who will love them both and hug them just the right amount.
So when Mummy Cat goes off one day to see if she can find their new home, she tells The Kitten With No Name that he must stay there and wait for her to come back in case he gets lost. So the Kitten decides to have a little sleep because he's only little and wait for Mummy Cat to come back. When he wakes and finds that his mummy isn't home yet, he decides to go and look for her and before too long, he can no longer see the very big hedge that he lives under and he thinks that he might be lost.
I really loved this story; firstly that it was so charmingly told in un-childish language and phrasing and secondly because each chapter is almost a story in itself, which made it very appropriate bedtime reading, particularly as at the end of most of the chapters, The Kitten decides to have a little sleep. I am not a fan of long bedtime stories that do the opposite of lull my daughter to the Land of Nod and we both enjoyed the bite-sized chunks that we read each night before bed, waiting to see what happened to the Kitten and what new friends he had made on his journey to find Mummy Cat.
The Kitten With No Name is also beautifully illustrated, with lively, sweet pictures that captivate the young reader's imagination and the continuing joint threads of the story; that the Kitten has wandered off when he should not have done and the hope that his mummy will find him and take him to his new home where someone will love him and hug him just the right amount, is both heartbreaking and joyful at once.
The illustrations and conversational text are very well laid out; they engage the young mind in paying attention to just that part, rather than inviting temptation to race ahead. If I were to have any reservations at all, it would simply be that my 3 year old found it slightly disconcerting that The Kitten had not listened to his mummy and had got himself lost in the first place. It was a continuing theme for a few days until we reached the (happy) end of the tale.
Aside from that, we've read The Kitten With No Name more than once now and it has been a pleasure to share. I would not hesitate to recommend it to you on that basis.
For further reading, we'd like to suggest you take a look at Where Is Home, Little Pip? by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman.
Lastly, we at Bookbag would like to extend our thanks to the boys and girls at Orion for sending us this copy to review.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Kitten With No Name by Vivian French and Selina Young at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Kitten With No Name by Vivian French and Selina Young at Amazon.com.
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