The Broken Cat [Hardcover]

Lynne Rae Perkins (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2002 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

There are times when hearing a familiar story -- even a story about how your mother fell and broke her arm when she was a little girl -- can be comforting. And so it was for Andy, and for his cat, Frank. Because the important thing is that injuries heal. When they have healed, they become stories -- and sometimes a story with a happy ending is exactly what is needed. If you are looking for the perfect book about love and families and intergenerational support (to say nothing of cats), look no further.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this quirky, effective slice-of-life memoir, Perkins (Home Lovely) shows a family reassuring a child by recalling a previous crisis that turned out all right. Andy's cat, Frank, hasn't moved or eaten since Andy let him out after breakfast, the previous morning. Andy sits with his family in the veterinarian's waiting room and a question reveals his concern about his pet: "Mom,... can you tell me about that time... you fell and broke your arm?" His mother, grandmother and aunt remember the accident, interrupting and adding forgotten details. Perkins's pen, ink and watercolor figures wear '60s plaid dresses and cat's-eye glasses; they play out the action in a series of vignettes. Comic-book highlights such as thought balloons and alternating viewpoints of the same scene counter Andy's sober concern for his cat and the pain of his mother's broken arm. After they conclude their reminiscence, the vet calls for Frank, dresses his head wound and sends him home. "Did your arm hurt the whole time it was broken?" Andy asks. A split-scene sequence then follows Andy's mother (in girlhood) and Frank healing together. "No," she reassures him, "Pretty soon... I didn't think about it at all." Her youthful counterpart stands on her head as Frank, in a corresponding panel, sniffs gently at Andy's hand. Like Andy, young readers may well return to this tale when they need reassurance. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

reSchool-Grade 2-To ease the trauma of a trip to the vet with his injured cat, Andy asks his mother to tell him again about the time she fell and broke her arm. And while they wait to see the vet, three generations (Andy, his mother, aunt, and grandmother) relay the story of his mother's accident when she was a child. This is obviously a familiar family story ("And then did you cry and cry" asks Andy); the dialogue flows naturally with just the right amount of tension and with various members of the family humorously adding to or adjusting the story based on their recollections. Full of comforting details, the softly toned, realistic pen-and-ink and watercolor art successfully moves from scenes in the vet's office to flashbacks from Andy's mother's story. By the time Frank is called in for his examination, the broken-arm story has done its job of consoling everyone. While this charming book can be read as a reassuring look at coping with an injury and a trip to the doctor vet, it also works as a captivating family story.
Caroline Ward, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books; 1st edition (March 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060292636
• ISBN-13: 978-0060292638
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hello kitty, April 10, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Broken Cat (Hardcover)

Funny thing. Though I think this is a great book and a really interesting way to introduce kids to notion of personal injuries, I also know for a fact that I could NOT have enjoyed this book as a child. Mind you, this is a strictly personal matter. I well remember another cat based picture book that worried me to no end as a child. If any of you have ever read "The Patchwork Cat", you'll know what I mean. I had a very hard time reading stories where cats were unhappy or in pain. In this particular book, a cat is being taken to the vet because he is acting as if he's hurting. The book doesn't dwell on this aspect and the cat is perfectly fine by the end of the tale, but it probably will disturb some of the more squeamish children out there.

In this lovely intergenerational tale, a boy accompanies his broken cat, his mother, his grandmother, and his aunt to the doctor's office. To comfort the cat, the boy asks his mom to recount how she once broke her own arm. The mom's story of getting "fixed" is paired with the cat's own tale of recovery. Perkins, author of the lovely "Snow Music" (big big recommendation on that one, people!), has penned a really nice story. The best of its kind, perhaps. There are a few books for kids that explain the process of breaking bodily parts and the fixing that follows, but I don't think many are as eloquent as this. Topping off the tale are Perkins' adept illustrations as well. Anyone who has seen a cat in pain will recognize how well the author/illustrator has captured this feline's tightly squeezed eyes and flat ears. At times the pictures slip into a kind of dreamscape. A page quartered into four views of the boy and cat in bed look out on stars, an evening meadow, a misty night, and sunny green field. Other times, there's a nice melding between the text and the pictures. I was especially taken with the title page, on which the portrait of the boy's mother as a girl, pets the cat held by the boy in an opposite portrait. It's a great story with likable characters and an interesting plot. And to top it all off, it serves a need. Simply great.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that resonates with children, January 2, 2003

By 

David DeKok (Harrisburg, Pa. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Broken Cat (Library Binding)

Another great kids' book from Lynne Perkins. My five-year-old daughter has taken to "The Broken Cat" to the extent that she has renamed one of our own cats "Frank" after the cat in the book, whose trip to the vet is the trigger for memories by his human owners of past injuries of their own.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boo-Boo reality!, November 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Broken Cat (Library Binding)

This book quenched my children's curiosity about what happens if you "get a big boo-boo." My kids LOVE to hear "when Mama & Daddy were little" stories, especially if we were hurt (I think it makes us more human to them). This book does just that. We relive the story of how Mom remembers when she was late for school, fell, and broke her arm. She was scared, sad, embarrassed, "broken," and, we find out in the end, also loved, and eventually all better.