School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Displaced when his elderly mistress dies, a cherished pet makes a long and lonely trip through cities, towns, and the countryside to return to the seaside home he shared with her. "The cat pranced over bridges and bristled at the thundering trains that passed. At dusk he would lick the dirt from his face and paws. In his dreams he could hear the twigs snapping and the crunch of dried leaves as he circled around the stone house by the edge of the sea." Banks's account of the expedition and the longing of the unnamed feline is quiet but descriptive. Occasional dangers such as stray dogs, aggressive children, and city traffic punctuate the animal's plodding trek as he grows thin and tired, doggedly working his way across the country. Hallensleben's double-page scenes, painted in his customary broad strokes and deep palette, convey a warm but also somber sense of each place as the journey progresses. The unidentified French landmarks create a particular geography for the universally satisfying story. A map of the route taken appears on the back of the book jacket. Predictably, the house's new owners offer the feline a warm welcome. How could it be otherwise? Rich in theme and evocative in tone, the cat's quest will resonate with young readers.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this sympathetic tale, a dislocated gray cat migrates from Rouen to St.-Tropez. (A back-cover map of France shows the traveler's zigzag itinerary.) Originally, the cat lives in southern France with his owner: "The old woman would scratch his ears and stroke his back./ `Good kitty, good kitty.' " But when the woman dies (offstage), the cat and her belongings are sent north. A poignant image shows him sitting on a crate, looking out a window at dank, sandy-blue buildings. He takes to the streets, scrounging for food near the Rouen Cathedral, easing through verdant cow pastures and blending with the concrete grays at the Pont Saint-Michel near Notre-Dame in Paris. He passes over TGV tracks, shelters in the eaves of a cabin near the Alps and rests on a rock by an ancient Roman aqueduct. Yet he never lingers long, driven by "the tangy smell of lemons" or "the taste of the salty air... behind the stone house by the edge of the sea." The team behind And If the Moon Could Talk) tells an "incredible journey" narrative without overstating the drama or sentimentalizing the resolute cat. Hallensleben composes space like Matisse and loads his brush with paint like Van Gogh; his full-bleed spreads feature gorgeous tree-greens and drenching blue skies, and the quiet cat is a small, intense presence in the panoramic settings. Francophiles and cat fanatics will melt at the immensely satisfying conclusion, where the voyager achieves his long-sought contentment with his stone home's new occupants. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
