Cat's Eye Corner (Cat's Eye Corner Series) [Paperback]

Terry Griggs (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Series: Cat's Eye Corner Series

Short-listed for Mr. Christie's Book Award, the Red Cedar Book Award, and a Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice selection, this adventure begins when Olivier goes to spend his summer vacation at Cat's Eye Corner, the very strange home of his grandfather and his new bride, Sylvia de Whosit of Whatsit -- a reported witch. Olivier discovers a mansion filled with shifting rooms, doors with mirrored keyholes, and talking shrubbery. The chief culprits are the Inklings -- word fairies that wreak havoc on language, much to the chagrin of the cats who have been changed from pets to poets! Olivier finds himself embroiled in a magical scavenger hunt to recover a fantastical book buried in Nevermore Lake. Along the way, he meets members of the So-So Gang, a talking pen named Murray Shaeffer, a swarm of French-speaking flies, a girl named Linnette who can channel the wind, and a boy named Fathom who lives in the river. Filled with characters that pop in and out of the story, Cat's Eye Corner is a cleverly written novel with much of the fun derived from wordplay -- puns, literary allusions, and misspellings.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7-When Olivier is invited to spend the summer with his eccentric grandfather and his even more eccentric third wife, Sylvia de Whosit of Whatsit, at their strange old mansion, Cat's Eye Corner, he knows that he is in for a real and true adventure. And, Olivier is not disappointed, for on his first morning at Cat's Eye Corner, his step-step-stepgramma sets him off on a scavenger hunt to keep him amused. As Olivier forages in and around the seemingly ever-changing mansion in search of all the items on his list, he acquires various odd friends, including a witty fountain pen and a resourceful dragonfly. Together they find all of the items, stop the nasty Mr. Mirrific from rewriting the dictionary and other literary classics, and generally have a grand adventure. This is a cleverly written novel, and the wordplay alone makes it a joy to read. Olivier is a believable character, and his awareness of the adventure he is on and his obvious knowledge of other literary adventures is entertaining and adds a nice twist to the story. Fans of Eva Ibbotson and, yes, Harry Potter are sure to enjoy this quirky read.
Laura Reed, Kitchener Public Library, Ontario, Canada
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-8. Olivier considers Norton Juster's book The Phantom Tollbooth to be a friend, and clearly Canadian author Griggs shares her young hero's affection for the classic and its clever use of phrase. Here, too, clever wordplay runs amok in adventures that are exuberant and often hilarious. The story begins when Olivier is sent to spend his summer holidays with his grandfather and his new "step-step-step gramma," Sylvia de Whosit of Whatsit. Before Olivier can complete his sleuthing to find out if she's a witch, she sends him on a scavenger hunt for myriad curious objects that will ultimately help him accomplish a dangerous, important mission. The parade of fabulously strange characters, from the leafy "woodwose" to the talking fountain pen, will remind readers of the Wizard of Oz series and Harry Potter, as well as Tollbooth, but the real spirit of the book lies in Griggs' delightful twists and turns of the language itself. Karin Snelson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Raincoast Books (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551923505
• ISBN-13: 978-1551923505
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,133,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Something around every "corner" at Cat's Eye Corner, November 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Cat's Eye Corner (Cat's Eye Corner Series) (Paperback)

Cat's Eye Corner is an Alice-in-Wonderland book in which the curious child, Olivier, explores an extremely eccentric, fantastical wonderland, beginning with the house, Cat's Eye Corner. He has been invited to come there for a visit because his grandfather has recently married the owner, Sylvia de Whosit of Whatsit. But he is NOT there to get acquainted with her nor hang around Gramps, but rather to explore the house and grounds. Sylvia arranges a scavenger hunt for him, but even this "hunt" is unusual because he rarely looks for any of the items; they are collected while new-found characters send him on various errands. And the items usually have a fantastical power. For example, the first item he collects outside (in chapter 6) is a cat's eye stone, which is given to him by a group of cats. The cats send him on an errand to find Dr. Blink. Along the way he encounters someone like Oz's Cowardly Lion, a weeping shrub-man, called a woodwose, who wants a name. However, unlike Oz's Cowardly Lion, he does not join Olivier, but does leave behind an object for Olivier's scavenger hunt that also lets him leap a fantastical distance. After meeting Dr. Blink (in chapter 8), Olivier is obliged to find the "So-So Gang" in the dark woods, and finds that the cat's eye stone amazingly lights up each pathway he is to take.
The author keeps the writing fresh and innovative. He also likes to play with the English language, and introduces mysterious characters, called the Inklings, who are word fairies that add or subtract letters to change things, for example, changing "pets" (the cats) to "poets". The author also likes to break conventions. For example, he has two "Chapter 13"s and he starts the first one by calling the reader's attention to it. "Thirteen, eh? Unlucky as walking under ladders, spilling salt or crossing the paths of black cats (except one). Not that Olivier was thinking about any of this as he brushed cobwebs out of his face." Of course, these sentences had nothing to do with Olivier or the plot.
If you like engaging wordplay and meeting unusual characters and objects, this is a book worth reading.
However, the book's major weakness is the inconsistencies in the characters and the plot. The author does not bother to develop the characters much -- he tends to introduce someone, like Dr. Blink, and move on to another. Also the characters' actions are often puzzling and inconsistent, which makes it harder to "know" them.
This is as a shame because there is one character that is well-developed and becomes a "dear friend" to Olivier. This is an old fountain pen, who writes his thoughts, that is introduced in Chapter 4 and ususally present thereafter. I would have preferred having less characters emerge on the hunt (did we really need Dr. Blink?) and having a few more characters developed memorably like the fountain pen.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cat's Eye Corner, December 21, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Cat's Eye Corner (Cat's Eye Corner Series) (Paperback)

Cat's eye corner was one of the best books I have ever read. It kept me up all night reading it until I was done. The characters have a lot of personality are are sometimes strange but charming. The characters are not all humans. This book deserves 5 stars because it has lots of laughs in it and it is very addictive. If you go to the library pick this book up and bring it home. You won't be disipointed! Happy reading!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cats Eye Corner, March 28, 2003

By 

cher (canada (Queen Charlotte islands)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cat's Eye Corner (Cat's Eye Corner Series) (Paperback)

The book cats eye corner was very confusing. I thought that the book was great. The characters were very interesting and complex. There was not one time i picked up the book that i did not look forward to reading it. My favorite character was MR. MIRIFIC. He lived in the coolest house because it was a clowns head.