One-Eyed Cat (Laurel-Leaf Books) [Mass Market Paperback]

Paula Fox (Author)

Book Description

Series: Laurel-Leaf Books | Publication Date: August 10, 1998

Eleven-year-old Ned shoots a forbidden gun just once on a moonlit night and then is haunted by a guilty fear. Was it his shot that wounded the one-eyed cat?

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Ned Wallis knows he's forbidden to touch the rifle in the attic. But he can't resist sneaking it out of the house, just once. Before he realizes it, Ned takes a shot at a dark shadow.

When Ned returns home, he's sure he sees a face looking down at him from the attic window. Who has seen and heard him?

Ned's feelings of guilt and fear only get worse when one day, while helping an elderly neighbor, he spots a wild cat with one eye missing. Could this be the thing Ned shot at that night? How can Ned bring himself to reveal his painful secret? --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Eleven-year-old Ned shoots a forbidden gun just once on a moonlit night and then is haunted by a guilty fear. Was it his shot that wounded the one-eyed cat?

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf (August 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440227763
• ISBN-13: 978-0440227762
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,145,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE-EYED CAT, July 21, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: One-Eyed Cat (Paperback)

The year is 1935. Ned Wallis is 11 years old. For his birthday, Ned's wealthy uncle gives him an air rifle. Ned's father, a preacher in upstate New York, says that Ned is too young for a rifle, so he puts the gun in the attic, telling Ned that when he's 14, he can have it. But Ned goes to the attic after everybody else is in bed and takes the rifle outdoors. While he's aiming it just for fun, he spots a shadow of movement by the shed, and he pulls the trigger. Shooting the gun sobers him up, and he feels very guilty for disobeying his father. He puts the gun away. It has lost all excitement for him now.

Ned doesn't want to tell anybody what he did. But he's afraid because, when he went back to the house, he saw a face looking out of the attic window. He doesn't know who it was, and he doesn't know what the person saw. Then one day, while he's working at his elderly neighbor's house after school, he sees a cat. The cat is wild, dirty, and grungy --- and it only has one eye. There's just a hole where the other eye was. The cat keeps shaking his head, and he's deaf. Ned is sure that he shot the cat.

Winter is coming; Ned and his neighbor, old Mr. Scully, are afraid the cat will freeze to death. He's thin and sick from pain and hunger, and he can't hunt well with only one eye. Mr. Scully sets out food for him, and he and Ned watch through the window while the cat sleeps by the shed. At first it looks like he's going to be okay. The food perks him up. But as the days get colder and it starts snowing, the cat gets sicker. One day he's just a mound covered with snow, and he doesn't move.

Will Ned be able to tell someone what he did? How can anybody forgive him for hurting an innocent animal? What will happen when Mr. Scully has a stroke and goes to a nursing home? Can Ned take care of the cat alone? Will the cat survive? You will want to find out once you start this gripping novel, which won a Newbery Honor award in 1985.

--- Reviewed by Tamara Penny

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Help Ned Share His feelings, February 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: One-Eyed Cat (Library Binding)

Bang! A gun fires, footsteps, then a door shuts. One Eyed Cat by Paula Fox is an exciting story of a boy who secretly takes his air rifle from the attic. Outside he shoots it just one time. Little does he know that a cat would be his victim. This book deserves a five star rating, because it is a great story with a good moral. It is a story of how ned feels alone because of his secret about shooting thecat. In the end, sharing his secret isn't relly that bad, because many other people have secrets they are hidding, too. It is a wellwritten book with an intersting story and realistic characters. Paula Fox relly makes you feel like a part of the story. I would definitely recommend this book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One- Eyed Cat, December 14, 1999

By 

Jessica Steele (Pocatello, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One-Eyed Cat (Paperback)

The book One-eyed Cat by Paula Fox is is about a boy named Ned. He gets a gun for his 11th birthday. Ned's dad says that Ned is not old enough to have a gun. He hides the gun in the attic. One night Ned decides that he just has to shoot the gun. He goes up to the attic and sneaks the gun out side. All of the sudden, he sees a shadow, he presses the trigger and fires the gun. After a long time he is helping an old neighbor and he sees a cat with only one eye. Ned is sure that he shot the cat and that is why it only has one eye. Will Ned ever tell anybody so that the guilt won't be so bad? Read the book One-Eyed Cat to find out. This was an okay book.