Jane on Her Own: A Catwings Tale [Hardcover]

Le Guin Schindler (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Series: Catwings

When Jane, a cat with wings, leaves the safety of her farm to explore the world, she falls into the hands of a man who keeps her prisoner and exploits her for money. Full-color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-Jane, the youngest of the Catwings felines, hungers for adventure. Life on the farm is just too boring, so she takes flight, ignoring her siblings' warnings that the world is dangerous. Jane enjoys her journey though she finds life away from home less than hospitable. One day she flies through a window into the apartment of a man who feeds her. But, as kind as he is to her, he also sees an opportunity to profit from her unique anatomy. He names her Miss Mystery and soon Jane is a television star-trapped indoors, surrounded by cameras and strangers. Unhappy, she eventually escapes and searches for her mother, who lives in the city. Once found, she and her mother live with a kind old woman who understands Jane's need for a home as well as her freedom. Le Guin's simple text creates a gentle picture of the animal and her world. Schindler's charming, pen-and-ink drawings, filled with colored washes, complement the story, making the marvelous winged cats perfectly believable. Beginning readers and young fantasy lovers will enjoy this satisfying, imaginative tale.
Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Feeling the need to stretch her wings, young Jane leaves her feline Overlook Farm family to fly back to the city where she was born. There she discovers the truth of her sister Thelma's warning that ``being different is difficult and sometimes very dangerous,'' when a man named Poppa treats her like royalty, but traps her by closing the window. As in the three previous Catwings books (Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings, 1994, etc.), Le Guin's winged creatures are more cat than bird in behavior and outlook: Jane's sinuous grace comes through clearly in Schindler's small, precise paintings. Patiently awaiting her chance, Jane at last slips out an open door, to settle down comfortably with her doting mother, in the apartment of gray-haired Sarah, a different sort of human who, instead of closing the window, opens it wider. Wanderlust, leaving home, the meaning of freedomthese are big themes for such a small book, but the author handles them with the ease of long practice, and the illustrations are just the right mix of the exotic and the familiar. (Fiction. 7-10) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic; 1st ed edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531301338
• ISBN-13: 978-0531301333
• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5.5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,780,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative and Charming Story, May 29, 2003

By 

Preston McClear, Author The Boy Under the Bed - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jane on Her Own: A Catwings Tale (Hardcover)

Jane On her Own, by Ursula K. Le Guin, is a marvelous and imaginative story about a cat with wings named Jane. Jane lives on a farm with other winged cats. The elder cats caution her about the danger of being a winged cat and traveling away from the farm. "Being different is difficult." Just the same, Jane is young and wants to have adventures so she flies off to the city anyway. Upon arriving in the city Jane meets a nice man who nonetheless wants to profit off of her uniqueness. The man keeps Jane against her will, making her a television sensation. Later, after Jane escapes the man, she finds her mother and takes up permanent residence with a kindly old woman. In the end Jane learns the value of freedom and being unique. Le Guin's writing is simple and beautifully understated. The illustrations by S.D. Schindler are wonderful and evocative. I loved Jane
On her Own and look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

Preston McClear

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jane On Her Own, January 7, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Jane on Her Own: A Catwings Tale (Hardcover)

It's about Jane Tabby who is tired and bored being cooped up in the barn and never getting to go out in the world and have adventures and be free. So she goes out into the city and finds out the hard way that being fancy isn't what she wants. What she really wants is to be happy, free, AND live in a cozy home. She was cooped up in the city too. In the end, she finds all three.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jane On Her Own, November 21, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Jane on Her Own: A Catwings Tale (Paperback)

Jane On Her Own, is a book about six cats that all have wings except one. There mother did not have wings. Jane was the yongest out of Thelma, Roger, Harriet, James, and there friend Alexander Furby. Jane got sick of the old farm and traveled to the big city. She met a man named Poppa he kept her in cages and made her do tricks for strange people. Finly Jane escaped and went to see her mother who also lived in the city. That night she squeezed though the window and got on the bed and layed next to her mom. The next morning Sarah Wolf had wocken to see a beautiful black cat with wings. She was very nice to Jane, Sarah evan left the window open for if Jane wanted to leve. Jane would something leve and go see Alexander Furby and have long chats and then fly back to the city. Jane Became a free cat.