Houndsley and Catina Plink and Plunk [Hardcover]

James Howe (Author), Marie-Louise Gay (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Houndsley and Catina

Houndsley loves to canoe. Catina loves to ride bikes. But when Houndsley takes Catina out canoeing, she chatters the whole time, drowning out the sounds Houndsley loves, like the call of birds or the plink and plunk of the paddles. And when Catina wants to go biking, Houndsley balks at going, even though Bert says he wants to come along. What is wrong with Catina? And what is wrong with Houndsley? Luckily, with Bert’s help, they discover that the things you’re afraid of are easier to do with a good friend or two at your side.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1–3—Houndsley and Catina are back in a brand-new springtime adventure. Catina's constant chatter once again ruins Houndsley's canoe trip, but he doesn't understand why she suddenly clams up after a wave rocks the boat. Catina can't understand why Houndsley doesn't want to ride his new bicycle. In the end, the two friends help one another overcome their fears. The three episodes seem disjointed at first, but the language is playful and precise and the action comes together for a satisfying conclusion. Houndsley and Catina's misunderstandings will resonate with early elementary readers. Gay's gentle cartoons, done in pen-and-ink and watercolor, sprawl across the pages while leaving plenty of white space around the text to encourage beginning readers.—Rebecca Dash, New York Public Library
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From Booklist

Houndsley loves to canoe on the lake—except with his best friend, Catina, who talks incessantly when they’re on the water. While Catina loves to ride her bicycle, Houndsley doesn’t. When he confesses that he doesn’t know how to ride and Catina admits that she can’t swim, each helps the other learn. Told in three short chapters, the stories are satisfying individually and even better in sequence. Bits of humor brighten the fluid text, while the lovely pencil, watercolor, and collage illustrations glow with warmth and good spirits. From the Houndsley and Catina series, an encouraging book on overcoming fears. Preschool-Grade 2. --Carolyn Phelan

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763633852
• ISBN-13: 978-0763633851
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.4 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #795,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Howe has written more than eighty books in the thirty-plus years he's been writing for young readers. It sometimes confuses people that the author of the humorous Bunnicula series also wrote the dark young adult novel, The Watcher, or such beginning reader series as Pinky and Rex and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award-winning Houndsley and Catina and its sequels. But from the beginning of his career (which came about somewhat by accident after asking himself what kind of vampire a rabbit might make), he has been most interested in letting his imagination take him in whatever direction it cared to. So far, his imagination has led him to picture books, such as I Wish I Were a Butterfly and Brontorina (about a dinosaur who dreams of being a ballerina), mysteries, poetry (in the upcoming Addie on the Inside), and fiction that deals with issues that matter deeply to him. He is especially proud of The Misfits, which inspired national No Name-Calling Week (www.nonamecallingweek.org) and its sequel Totally Joe. He does not know where his imagination will take him in the next thirty-plus years, but he is looking forward to finding out.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In springtime the only pretty ring time . . ., April 23, 2009

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Houndsley and Catina Plink and Plunk (Hardcover)

I first heard about Houndsley and Catina in the best possible way. The way that's even better than librarian recommendations, blog reviews, or advanced reader galleys. A year or so ago I was sitting at my reference desk, minding my own business, when a child that couldn't have been much more than six years of age came up to me. "Do you have Houndsley and Catina?" Part of my training is meant to encourage me to avoid the-blank-stare. The-blank-stare is death to any reference question. I covered up my confusion with a perky, "Let's see!" and then desperately started searching the catalog. To my amazement we did indeed have something called "Houndsley and Catina" in the collection. More amazing still, it appeared to be by that James Howe fellow. You know the guy who wrote all those Bunnicula books then turned around and started doing awesome YA novels as well like "Totally Joe"? Now he was doing early readers? I gave the now ecstatic girl one copy, then snatched the other from the shelf and started reading it on the sly. You know how sometimes something brilliant falls through the cracks? Yeah. That was definitely the case here. Within seconds I was enthralled, then depressed. How had I missed this? It was small comfort when the book won the E.B. White Readaloud Award later that year. I still wished I'd known enough to read it and recommend it and review it when it was first available. Now I have that chance again. Houndsley and Catina have continued their small, quiet adventures unabated and the fourth of these "Plink and Plunk" manages to use the easy reader format to cover issues like acceptance and masking your real feelings for the sake of your friends (to the detriment of everyone). Heavy stuff in a nearly weightless little package.

Houndsley has a bit of a difficulty. He would very much like to go canoeing on this simply beautiful day but his friend Bert is unavailable. That leaves Houndsley's best friend, Catina, who is a wonderful person but a jabberjaws when it comes to canoeing. While Houndsley would prefer to just sit and enjoy the "plink" and "plunk" of the canoe oars, Catina insists on talking nonstop, until some bumpy water renders her eerily silent. Later, Houndsley receives a bike from his cousin and at Catina's urging joins her on a bike ride. The trouble? He doesn't know how to ride a two-wheeler. Fortunately Catina and Bert teach Houndsley and Catina confesses that the reason she speaks without cease when she's canoeing is because she's nervous and doesn't know how to swim. Houndsley and Bert (who is apparently good at everything) teach her as well, and in the end the three friends go canoeing at last in sweet and utter silence.

If you are unfamiliar with the format of a Houndsley and Catina book then the first chapter of this title is going to confuse you. Often an early reader contains short little chapters that are self-contained stories. "Frog and Toad" books do this a lot. In this book, however, the first chapter ends on a mystery. Houndsley and Catina have just experienced some rough water and her stream of blather has come to an abrupt cease. Why? Chapter Two immediately switches scenes, and if you didn't know that the story was going to solve the mystery later on you might get the feeling that James Howe had the attention span of . . . well . . . of Catina. Instead, parents who are reading this book to their children (or are having the books read to them) can ask what the kids think after that initial chapter. Why do you think Catina got so quiet? Are there clues in the illustrations? Spoiler Alert: yep.

From book one, the pairing of Marie-Louise Gay and James Howe was inspired. I saw both Ms. Gay and Mr. Howe speak at an American Booksellers Association dinner where they accepted their E.B. White Readaloud Award. From the audience where I sat it seemed to me that Ms. Gay was Catina-esque. She had a lovely French-Canadian accent and beautiful flowy clothes. James Howe was quieter and less prone to effusion, but pitch perfect in his choice of words. They are very much a kind of Houndsley and Catina of their own. Howe provides the heart and the simple touching phrasing. Gay brings, on her end, sweet watercolors that capably convey both the tone and the feel of the book in full.

Ms. Gay knows her way around a paintbrush, and if you've seen her work on books like "Please, Louise!e" or "Stella, Princess of the Sky" then you will know what I am talking about. On top of all that is the fact that the clothing choices in this book are inspired. Catina is prone to delicate little fabrics that contain full swirls of color. Even her bike helmet (tangerine with tiny holes at the top for her ears) is decorative. Houndsley, in comparison, is perfectly comfortable working in his garden in an old undershirt and some beat up workpants. They are what they wear, without ever really overdoing it.

I'm so pleased to finally, belatedly, get around to reviewing one of the books in this series. It's a review that is long overdue. Finding good easy readers is a chore for a lot of parents. You want something simple, but meaningful. Quiet, but also fun. Howe and Gay provide with each and every book they do. And this fourth in the series constitutes the perfect spring or summer read. Everything you want in an easy reader. Everything you need in a book.