Metro Cat (Family Storytime) [Hardcover]

Marsha Diane Arnold (Author), Jack E. Davis (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Family Storytime

When Sophie, the cover cat for Fancy Cat Magazine, is stranded in a Paris Metro station she must learn to fend for herself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This value-priced book delivers a subtle message about the importance of making the best of a reversal of fortune and of assessing what defines good fortune. Sophie, the "fanciest cat in Paris" and the cover model for Fancy Cat magazine, finds her life turned upside down when she and her silk-lined carrying case sail out of her limousine one morning and down the subway stairs. Darting between the legs of commuters, she finds sustenance in bits of baguette and croissant dropped on the train platform. Later Sophie ascends to street level, where she pairs up with a kind, elderly street musician, by dancing with gusto to the strains of his fiddle. She leads him down to the Metro station, where the duo wows the crowd. The spectators enthusiastically fill the fellow's coffers, and the two become fast friends. Rendered in watercolor, acrylic and colored pencil, Davis's (Music Over Manhattan) zippy, stylized art pays droll attention to detail: carved wooden mice top bedposts and fish adorn the footboard of Sophie's elegant wooden bed; and a dazzling array of funky footwear is viewed from the newly self-sufficient cat's perspective in the Metro. With art and narrative serving up more than a soup‡on of humor, this is a winning choice for a read-aloud. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 4-8. As a magazine cover model, Sophie LaBecque is the fanciest feline in Paris. She lives in luxury, with fresh trout for breakfast and a view of the Seine--until the day the silk-lined carrying case she travels in sails out of her speeding limousine and down into the Paris subway. Sophie is unused to independent living but makes a game of dodging the "click-click, squish-squish, shuffle-shuffle" of high-heeled pumps, tennis shoes, and wingtips to pounce on dropped tidbits from commuters' breakfasts. When she befriends Jacques, a street musician, her fancy footwork earns the pair francs, as she dances to his violin music. She also finds a new, simpler home on Jacques' houseboat, again enjoying trout and naps overlooking the Seine. The nice message about simplicity is juxtaposed neatly against the paint-and-pencil cartoon renderings of Paris that convey the bustle and diversity of metropolitan life. Descriptive and narrative details echo throughout the text and are amplified in the art, making Sophie's tale an eminently satisfying one. Amy Brandt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Golden Books (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307102130
• ISBN-13: 978-0307102133
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,492,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marsha Diane Arnold is an award-winning author who the media has called "a born storyteller".

She's written eleven books, some magazine articles, a few poems, and when her children were young, over 500 newspaper columns! The column was called "homegrown treasures" She's received picture book honors as well, including The Ridgeway Award for Best First Book, Children's Choice awards, IRA Distinguished Book, and Smithsonian Notable Book.

Her two newest books show the range of her writing ability. The sweet Family Choice Award winner, Hugs on the Wind, is a very, very quiet book and the uproarious Northern California Book Award nominee Roar of a Snore is a very, very LOUD book.

Marsha travels nationally and internationally as a speaker for schools, conferences, and author festivals. When she's not visiting schools in her travels, she's traveling for fun. Recent trips include China, Alaska, and the Galapagos Islands. Marsha is currently working on a picture book about the Galapagos with a Galapagos nature guide who was born and raised there.

In 2008, Marsha was invited to be one of seven artists involved in Sequoia National Parks Foundation's 2008 Artists in the Back Country, the only children's author ever invited. Part of that involvement was a week at 11,000 feet at Foxtail Camp in Sequoia National Park, where she, along with a National Geographic photographer, a Hugo Award winner, painters, and photographers walked the hills, talked about their experiences, and were inspired by the magnificent landscape. The program hopes to rekindle the American tradition of enhancing public awareness of and appreciation for our national parks and natural world through the arts.

Her vision is to inspire readers to follow their own unique dreams and to have fun doing it! Talking about this with her young fans reminds her to keep following her own dreams, even though she's 60, not 6. "We should never stop dreaming!" she says.

You can find out more about Marsha and her books at her website, www.marshadianearnold.com, or her blog, www.storymagician.blogspot.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My grandchildren love this book!, August 14, 2001

By 

D. Pelzel (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Metro Cat (Family Storytime) (Hardcover)

Often in life things turn out different than we expect or plan. Marsha Arnold has given us a story that deals with this experience in a delightful way. Metro Cat takes us on a fun journey and provides opportunity to teach children about coping with and making use of life's unexpected turn of events. I just bought two more copies to give as gifts. My grandchildren love this book! I love this book! I'm keeping one in my home library. It is quality literature, a relevent theme, loads of fun, and darling illustrations. What more could I ask for?