How the Cat Swallowed Thunder [Hardcover]

Lloyd Alexander (Author), Judy Schachner (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

Mother Holly is tired of Cat's rascally ways. When going out one day, she tells him she doesn't want to see one thing out of place in the house upon her return. Quicker than a cat can pounce, he is in trouble. One mishap leads to another and another. For, unbeknownst to the cat, Mother Holly is no ordinary granny. Her watering can produces spring showers, her bellows bring on the wind, and her popping corn makes thunder. Even when one tiny kernel is swallowed by the cat, it continues to rumble softly in his throat.

There is a lot of magic here--not only in Mother Holly's objects but also in Alexander's tart, pithy prose and Schachner's hilarious illustrations. Readers will join Mother Holly in slipping under the spell of that irresistible purring.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like the sorcerer's apprentice, Cat has more than he can handle when Mother Holly leaves him in charge of her cottage. To clean up a spill, Cat uses the watering can, but it unexpectedly causes a full-fledged rainstorm; the bellows he uses to fan a fire whip up howling winds; and popping corn produces thunderbolts. Alexander (The House Gobbaleen; the Prydain series) doesn't explain the mysterious occurrences until Mother Holly's return. At that point Mother Holly discloses that she uses her watering can for April showers, her bellows for March winds, etc. Cat is convinced he's going to be punished, until a kernel of corn he has swallowed makes his stomach rumble and his "marvelous song" makes Mother Holly "happy and peaceful"Athe story has opened in a time "when the Cat had no purr." Unfortunately, this pourquoi tale of magic and mayhem has such a complicated plot and so many loose ends that a young reader could easily end up as befuddled as Cat himself. Older readers, however, will enjoy Alexander's rhythmical sentences and witty dialogue. Schachner's (The Grannyman) cartoonish watercolors convey the slapstick humor and chaos, but her googly-eyed characters are often less appealing than the background details. Children will enjoy spotting carved owl bedposts, cat nesting dolls lined up on a windowsill and, especially, the two mice who appear on each page. Ages 5-9. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-Professed cat lovers Alexander and Schachner have produced a truly charming story that's part fantasy and part fond tribute to their favorite household pet. When the Cat spends a day fishing around in Mother Holly's house instead of cleaning it up according to her instructions, he stumbles onto all kinds of trouble: her watering can becomes a rainmaker, her bellows generate a furious wind, and her popping corn rumbles like thunder. It seems he can't touch anything without creating a meteorological maelstrom within the woman's four tidy walls. Frantic to cover his tracks, Cat successfully cleans up his various messes, save for one small kernel of corn. Panicked, he pops it into his mouth, ingesting with it a muffled rumbling sound that Mother Holly loves, resulting in the first cat to purr. Alexander's original folktale evokes Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories while turning Aesop on his familiar head; in the end, the only life-lesson the Cat learns is that he can charm his way out of any predicament with the right kind of spin control. Coupled with Schachner's homespun, crazy-quilt illustrations-everything in Mother Holly's house is stuffed with down and stitched by hand-the result is pure enchantment. Children will enjoy this book when read aloud as much as they will when they curl up with it on their own.
Catherine T. Quattlebaum, DeKalb County Public Library, Atlanta, GA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1st edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525464492
• ISBN-13: 978-0525464495
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,215,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FELINE FANCIERS WILL LOVE THIS!, September 16, 2000

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How the Cat Swallowed Thunder (Hardcover)

Cat lovers, rejoice! Here's another paean to our favorite feline pet. Schachner's illustrations are hysterical as cat gets into all the mischief anyone can imagine - from tangling in the thread of his mistress's spinning wheel to climbing into the cupboard and creating chaos among the crockery.

Never one to clean up his own messes, cat considers housework and pushing a broom "weary" work (we agree). Nonetheless, in Mother Holly's absence he spills the soup, and while trying to clean up turns the kitchen into a duck pond. He also releases feathers from a quilt, and makes a myriad of messes.

Nonetheless, Mother Holly dotes on her pet, just as we do on ours. Animal lovers have found a kindred soul.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grandma and her little cho cho love this book!, June 3, 2003

By 

Nancy Barnes (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How the Cat Swallowed Thunder (Hardcover)

My Grandson, at age 2 years and 9 months picked this out because of the picture on the cover. I thought he wouldn't understand and enjoy it because of the British expressions. Was I ever wrong! He loves it and I love reading it to him. After two days he was playfully using the expression "I'll be in a pickle for sure" and telling his mother he had swallowed some thunder after eating some corn. Now two months later, I was surprised that he has practically memorized the book (the first six pages completely - and there are a lot of words, many of them quite unusual, on those six pages. He often suggests we "tidy up the cottage". Mother Holly is a great help with learning good behavior and, even after all the excitement, he usually goes to sleep when the cat does.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A REMARKABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK. Try this one - it will most likely end up on your favorites list, December 31, 2011

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How the Cat Swallowed Thunder (Hardcover)

This one has just about everything to offer that I like in a children's book. The story line is great, the writing is precise without being pretentious, there is a good moral to the story, it is told in a fairytale/folktale mode and the art work is great. It is not too long and not too short. If an adult is reading this one to the child it will hold up over many readings without sending the adult's eyeballs to the back of their head after about the 100th time through.

Mother Holly (Who we figure out quite quickly is actually Mother Nature), has a cat named Cat. Cat is a typical cat; self indulgent, rather laid back, a bit lazy, mischievous...all in all a bit of a rascal and was always in trouble. Mother Holly never let him out of her sight; which sort of show you how wise Mother Nature actually is. Cat, oddly enough, could not purr!

One day Mother Holly tells the cat she must leave for a bit to take care of the other creatures in the world. She tells Cat "Cat, of all my creatures in this world, there's none like you for setting things topsy-turvy. But now it's time you learn to behave and to make yourself useful."

The cat is given specific instructions as to what chores to perform and how to behave while Mother Holly is gone. She informs cat that "And, when I come back, if I find even one thing amiss - then, believe me, it will be so much the worse for you." The cat agrees - right!

Of course as soon as the old lady leaves the door, Cat does what cat does best - setting things topsy-turvey!

Now how the cat swallowed thunder, and thereby acquiring the ability to purr, is what the story is about. As I make it a solid practice to never-ever-ever place spoilers in my reviews I fear that you must read this one yourself.

I will let you know that Cat does try; in Cat's own way, but everything he does just makes things worse and worse. To be frank, the story is rather hilarious.

This is a pure fantasy folk tale. The art work by Judith Byron Schachner is absolutely top rate and captures the essence of the story perfectly.

I am forced to place this work on by most favorite list where it should have been all along.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks