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Summary
Summary
Three hungry cats. One little penguin. The odds don't look good.
With bare cupboards and hungry bellies, three cats steal a penguin to catch them fish. A hilarious sequence of events unfolds as the penguin makes his escape, gets mistaken for a nun and a waiter, then finds his way safely home. Meanwhile, the cats are caught for their crime and sent to jail -- for a lifetime of gruel. Deftly told and beautifully illustrated by exciting debut author-illustrator Helen Hancocks.
Author Notes
Helen Hancocks graduated in 2011 with a degree in illustration and animation from Manchester School of Art. She uses a mixture of crayon, watercolor, ink, and pen, combined digitally. Her work often features cats. Helen Hancocks lives in Lincoln, England.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Faced with empty cupboards, three hungry cats scour their home until they find three gold coins. On the way to the supermarket, they are distracted by a movie marquee advertising The Fishy Feast. The cats quickly hand over their coins and go inside. Hungrier than ever when it's over, the felines draw inspiration from the film and plan "the most brilliant robbery of all time." After stealing into the zoo under cover of darkness and abducting a penguin, they try to explain their plan, only to be undone by their lack of linguistic ability-they don't speak penguin! No matter, they set off on a fishing trip, with the penguin an integral part of the endeavor. Sensing danger, he escapes and manages to elude the kidnappers when they mistake him for a nun and a waiter. A helpful blue bird shows him a secret way back into the zoo and tells the police about the felonious cats. (The clever bird must be trilingual.) Penguin arrives home none the worse for wear and just in time for a fishy feast of his own. The cats are jailed and sentenced to eat "gruel for life." Although the text is sometimes difficult to read on pages with dark gray backgrounds, this quirky tale has clever, foreshadowing illustrations that attentive readers will eat right up. The holes in the storytelling are secondary to the sophisticated vocabulary and curiosity about the outcome of the cats' goofy plan.-Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A bicycle built for three and a secret subterranean tunnel system are just two of the treats thrown into this madcap adventure by first-time British author/illustrator Hancocks. Three hungry cats snare a penguin from the local zoo, scheming to have it catch fish for them. But the penguin escapes, and although the cats give chase through a crowded city, it eludes them, camouflaging itself in a handy group of nuns and darting into the kitchen of a high-end restaurant. Hancocks's artwork is first cousin to Maira Kalman's, a series of cheerful gouaches in which grown-up metropolitan civilization is depicted with childlike charm. Cheeky humor crowds the pages; in the restaurant, the penguin joins a procession of formally dressed waiters into the dining room, holding the skeleton of the fish he's just downed like a trophy. Penguin fans will sigh with relief as a little bird reveals the underground tunnels: "Luckily, she knew a secret way into the zoo." The cats' punishment seems too harsh for the crime-gruel for life behind bars!-but perhaps a sequel will let them stage a jailbreak. Ages 3-7. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.