The Cinder-Eyed Cats [Hardcover]

Eric Rohmann (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

In his first book since Time Flies, his Caldecott Honor debut, Eric Rohmann transports a young boy in a magical sailboat to a lush tropical island inhabited by six cats with eyes like blazing coals.  Rohmann's magnificent oil paintings draw the eye seamlessly from page to page, adding layers of complexity to a deceptively simple storyline. His palette reaches effortlessly from the brilliance of a tropical day to the glow of a starlit night, while his scenes range from breathtaking ocean vistas to the meticulously detailed and expressive creatures. The Cinder-Eyed Cats is both a sumptuous feast for the eye and a virtuoso feat of picture storytelling.

Time Flies , a wordless picture book, is inspired by the theory that birds are the modern relatives of dinosaurs.  This story conveys the tale of a bird trapped in a dinosaur exhibit at a natural history museum.  Through Eric's use of color, readers can actually see the bird enter into a mouth of a dinosaur, and then escape unscathed.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2. Five tigers with staring eyes fill the book jacket, front and back, suggesting a larger-than-life story. It's a nighttime fantasy featuring a boy who climbs aboard a boat hanging in the air above a pier and sails off to faraway lands. After a wordless sequence of several pages, the text begins in blank verse and moves into rhymed couplets to recount in spare lines the child's encounter with the cinder-eyed cats and a host of fish and sea creatures that "rise up from the deep" and join a frenzied night of dancing in the air above the sand. Double-page paintings of the tropical island terrain deepen as the sunny afternoon sky and sea move through twilight and into the dark of night. The scheme of sailing off into the night and a dreamlike encounter with wild animals are certainly nothing new, but the energy and surrealism provide a well-paced adventure with intriguing moments. The boy builds a large sand fish on the beach; as he dozes against its side, its eye begins to open. The celebration of night is a cheerful melee containing visual images?a circle of dancing tigers and the tigers mounted on one another's backs?familiar from well-known stories. As the morning sun calls the fish back to the sea, it's all a bit of a well-woven pastiche, sometimes Disneyish in the drawing but often bold and rich. A bedtime piece with flair.?Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A beautiful book that readers will turn to again and again." — Booklist, Starred

"Rohmann’s bright-eyed cats are as mesmerizing as a vivid dream." — Publishers Weekly

"Rohmann’s magnificent oil paintings masterfully mix reality and fantasy." — Los Angeles Times



From the Trade Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (October 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517708965
• ISBN-13: 978-0517708965
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #668,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eric Rohmann was born in Riverside, Illinois in 1957. He grew up in Downers Grove, a suburb of Chicago. As a boy, Eric played Little League baseball, read comic books, collected rocks and minerals, insects, leaves, and animal skulls.

Eric has his BS in Art and an MS in Studio Art from Illinois State University, and an MFA in Printmaking/Fine Bookmaking from Arizona State University. He also studied Anthropology and Biology. Eric taught printmaking, painting, and fine bookmaking at Belvoir Terrace in Massachusettes and introductory drawing, fine bookmaking, and printmaking at St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

Eric has created book jackets for a number of novels, including His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman. He won a Caldecott Honor Book award for Time Flies, and a Caldecott Medal award for My Friend Rabbit. Eric has written four children's books: My Friend Rabbit, The Cinder-Eyed Cats, Pumpkinhead, and A Kitten's Tale. He recently illustrated Lois Lowry's Bless This Mouse and an old Scottish poem, Last Song. Look for Bone Dog out in the latter part of 2011.

Eric currently resides in a suburb of Chicago.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The illustrations got me . . ., May 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cinder-Eyed Cats (Hardcover)

We (my 6-year-old, 3-year-old, 5-month old, and I)encountered this book in our doctor's waiting room. The front cover was so beautifully illustrated we had to pick it up and have a quick look. We went straight home to buy the book. It is gorgeous. Both of my older children loved the book and the baby enjoyed the illustrations. I would have bought it for myself without encouragement from my children, boats that float through the air, whales that sail through the mroning sky, and a story/poem that is beautiful, too. All around fabulous book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Beautiful, January 2, 2001

By 

Amy Neil (Huntington Beach, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cinder-Eyed Cats (Hardcover)

This book is incredible! I bought it for several reasons, but mostly because it is so beautiful. It's written so well, and the illustrations make the words seem almost tangible. I'm a teacher, and I can tell you that it's a definite favorite of my students. My nephew adores it. This is definitely a classic that will endure the ages!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has stunning illustrations., November 11, 1999

By 

H. Connelly "hconnelly" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cinder-Eyed Cats (Hardcover)

I have given this book to a number of my relatives and friends' children, and every one has loved it, most especially for the incredible illustrations. I would highly recommend this, especially for children around 6 years old - but of course, it's never to early to start giving a child books!