Customer Reviews

Highway Cats

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a cat person, as are my kids, so this book immediately caught my eye. It went to my 9 year olds bookshelf and she eventually took it out to read. I read a little of the beginning with her, but then she continued on with it herself. I could see she was a little nervous about the beginning of the story where 3 kittens appear on the side of a busy highway and have to cross several lanes of traffic while the stray cats on the other side bet if they will make it. You knew they would make it, but you didn't have a warm, fuzzy feeling about the book at that point. As she read the book, she told me some parts confused her and she would have to read it over a few times. Apparently these kittens have some mystical power, but I don't believe it is ever clarified or fully explained what it is or where they came from. They caused good things to happen in the stray cat colony, but then they disappear mysteriously and she didn't get the ending. I read the last chapter and made an explanation that it all ended happily and the kittens were fine. In all, I suppose if I read the book to her, it might have made more sense, but I didn't really expect it to have parts in it that were open to your own interpretation, or reading between the lines to understand the power of the kittens.

Shredder, a grizzled old cat, discovers three abandoned kittens on the highway he lives near. Miraculously, the kittens survive crossing the busy lanes. At first, Shredder and the other feral cats don't much care for these seemingly helpless kittens, but they soon warm to their innocence in the face of life in the wild.

Meanwhile, the mayor of the town has plans to build ramps leading to and from the highway--ramps that would run right through the woods in which the cats live. Because the arrival of the kittens has changed the attitudes of so many of the previously cold-hearted cats, they band together to frighten the workers who would destroy their home.

This is a good story with drawings at the beginning of each chapter. It was interesting to read about how all of the cats' different personalities work together to care for the kittens and to save their homes from being destroyed. Recommend this to readers who enjoyed The Incredible Journey or Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

Janet Taylor Lisle's HIGHWAY CATS provides a fine tale of a tough bunch of stray cats holed up in the woods - and the arrival of three tiny kittens who manage to cross a busy highway to find them. The mystical kittens prove not only resilient but bring together the highway cat clan in a battle against bulldozers in this fine story of cat courage.

This was interesting. At first the reader thinks the cats are abandoned but that is not so.These are magical kittens. Don't want to give away the plot, so you will have to read this book. A satisfying read. Recommended.

This was purchased for a children's program at our local library. Can't comment on the book itself, as I haven't read it. But shipping was fast and book was in the condition promised.