Customer Reviews

One-Eyed Cat

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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

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.

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.

One-eyed cat was, I have to say was the summit compared to all the other books I have read.It was the kind of book that you can't just put down after one chapter, even though I idmit I may have put it down a couple times.
Ned Wallis lived with his family near the Hudson river in Tyler, N.Y. in 1935. Ned was a very kind and sweet boy, he never talked back to his parents, except once. Reverend James Wallis, Ned's papa, as Ned called him, was about as impeccable as you can get. Ned's mama was an ill woman, she suffered from a disease. The disease caused her hands and fingers to get horribly twisted in knots. Ned also had a housekeeper, Mrs. Scallop. Ned, his mama, and his papa, very much disliked Mrs. Scallop, she was very cruel when it came to her cooking and cleaning. Ned had two neighbors,Mrs. Kimball and Mr.Scully. Mrs. Kimball helped Mrs. Wallis with her sickness, she often visited their house. Mrs. Kimball had over five children. It seemed to Ned as if her children were a bunch of wild monkeys running around her house. Mr. Scully was an extremely feeble man at eighty years old. Ned would help Mr. Scully, after school, with chores that he did for him around his house. After a while, Ned and Mr. Scully became very good friends. Then, of course, there was Ned's uncle, Uncle Hilary. Uncle Hilary, Ned thought was the greatest uncle in the world. He travelled to wherever you could imagine. He frequently sent back presents to Ned of the places he visited. He once sent him back a bronze goat from Greece, that Ned could easily fit inside the palm of his hand.
It was almost Ned's eleventh birthday. Ned was the most excited he ever could have been because Uncle Hilary had come home that day for it!! Ned was very excited, Uncle Hilary said that he could open his present form him!! Except the present that Ned was about to open was very much different than the other ones Ned's uncle had given him. After slowly and carefully unraveling the wrapping paper, what seemed to come out of the paper was, a gun. Ned's father, as being the Reverend did not agree at all with the gun idea. Reverend Wallis talked to Uncle Hilary and told him that he disagreed. Ned's father concluded as saying, "Ned, there is nothing to imagine with a gun except something that was dead." Then he took the gun upstairs, Ned watching him in the process, and placed it in the attic. That night Ned's father told Ned that he trusted him entirely not to touch the gun. Ned stayed up all night, he couldn't stop thinking about how that gun felt in his arms after he unwrapped it. Such power and control he had in himself when he held it. He couldn't help himself, but to go upstairs, in the attic, and get the gun for himself. He took his shoes off so he wouldn't make any noise and he tip-toed to the attic. When he got there he was stucken by light reflecting from the moon, that shone on the beautiful gun. Ned grabbed the gun quickly and quietly stepped out the door to his house. At last, he was free with the gun by his side all alone. Then, he aimed it towards a shadow in the woods, the shadow looked alive to him, but he knew that he wasn't going to shoot anything anyway. All of the sudden, accidently, his sweating, wet fingers slipped on the trigger to the gun and it hit that shadow in the woods. Ned turned back, looking up at the house and in one of the windows to his house, there was someone staring down at him, seeing everything that Ned had done! Ned looked as hard and as close in the window as he could, but he couldn't tell who it was looking at him. Ned studied it later. Could it have been his mama, that can hardly even stand or was it mean Mrs.Scallop. It also could have been his papa.
Ned went along with it as if it never happened, even though he knew that it did. Everyday after school Ned would walk to Mr. Scully's house to help him. Then one day while he was there, Mr. Scully pointed out a strange cat. Ned looked at it closer and noticed that it only had one eye and must have been stuggling to live. It had blood around the rim of his empty eye. Ned went home that night crying, knowing that that must have been the shadow that he hit with the gun that dark night. But, was it really the cat he hit or was really nothing at all?
In conclusion, I thought that Ms. Paula Fox made a beautiful choice in publishing One-eyed cat. If she never had, then I would have never been able to read such an interesting and suspenseful book.

One-Eyed Cat
Paula Fox

This book teaches many lessons of life. The One-Eyed Cat is about a young eleven-year-old boy, Ned, who gets a gun for his Birthday from his uncle. His dad said, "You can have it when you are older", but sometimes kids never learn. Ned later that night went to go get it, and took it outside only to shot it once. Ned later met a cat with only one eye at his neighbor's house when he was cleaning up. He started to think, did I shot the cat? Am I the one responsible for the cat only having one eye? This book teaches kids that they should always listen to their elders, even when they think they are right. When one of his close friends died, Ned learned that life isn't always fair but he must make the best of it. He learned that when he has guilt on the shoulders, he shouldn't keep it all in side. When he felt like something is eating him away, he learned to come clean and talk to someone about how he has been feeling. I would recommend this to anyone who loves to read about life and a person learning to be more grown up.

The One-Eyed Cat is a superb book for all occasions. I got so caught up in it one night that I read it for over 3 hours! It's about a boy named Ned that doesn't exatly have the easiest life. His mom is in a wheelchair and he has a very strict housekeeper that won't let him do anything. On his 10th birthday he gets a gun from his uncle, his father doesn't approve of him having it and says he can't use it yet. Then one night he sneeks up to the attic and steals it! To find out what happens after that, you're going to have to read the book yourself!

I liked this book because it was strange , the charecters were good. Some parts were kind of scary. It was interesting,and it was mysterious. What i did not like about this book was some parts were, the cat was shot,some parts i did not understand. It was to lonk and things were always changing topics.I think older kids would enjoy this book better because it is harder to understand.

I thought this book was OK, but really, I can say I have read better. To begin with, this is one of those books that move slowly for most of the book, but near the end begin to speed up. But, unfortunately for me, I did not quite understand the end, and that left me thinking, "So, what happens next?" Aside from that, the characters were well drawn, and the scenery was perfect for the story. "The story requires some after-thought." -Katie Manning/American School In Japan

One-Eyed Cat was a worthy book to read. It was the kind of book that you just can't put down after the first chapter.
Ned Wallis lived with his family near the Hudson River in Tyler, New York, in 1935. Ned was a very kind and sweet boy. He almost never spoke back to his parents, except once. Reverend James Wallis, Ned's papa, as Ned called him, was about as impeccable as you can get. Ned's mama was an ill woman who was suffering from a terrible disease that caused her hands and fingers to get horribly twisted in knots. Ned had a housekeeper, Mrs. Scallop, that Ned, his mama, and his papa
disliked. She was very cruel when it came to her cooking and cleaning. Ned also had two neighbors, Mrs. Kimball and Mrs. Scully. Mrs. Kimball helped Mrs. Wallis with her sickness, often visiting their house. Mrs. Kimball had over five children. Ned thought that her children were like a bunch of wild monkeys running around her house. At eighty years old, Mr. Scully was very feeble. Ned would help Mr. Scully, after school, with chores that he did for him around his house. After a while Ned and Mr. Scully became very good friends. Ned thought his Uncle Hilary was the greatest in the world. He traveled to whereever you could imagine. He frequently sent back presents to Ned of the places he visited.
It was almost Ned's eleventh birthday and Ned was very excited since his uncle had come home to celebrate it with him. Uncle Hilary told Ned to open the present he had brought him. After slowly and carefully unraveling the wrapping paper, Ned was surprised to find that it was a gun.
Ned's father, as being the Reverend, did not agree at all with the gun idea. Ned's father concluded as saying, "Ned, there is nothing to imagine with a gun except something that was dead." Then he took the gun upstairs, Ned watching him in the process, placed it in the attic. That night, Ned's father told him that he trusted him entirely not to touch the gun. Ned stayed up all night, thinking about how that gun felt in his arms after he unwrapped it. Such power and control he had in himself when he held it. He couldn't help himself from going upstairs, in the attic, and get the gun for himself. He took his shoes off, as not to make any noise, and tip-toed to the attic. When he got there the light reflecting from the moon shone on the beautiful gun. Ned grabbed the gun quickly and quietly stepped out the door of his house.
At last, he was free with the gun by his side all alone. Then, he aimed it at a shadow in the woods that looked alive to him. He knew that he wasn't going to shoot anything. But, all of the sudden, accidently, his sweating wet fingers slipped on the trigger of the gun and hit that shadow in the woods. Ned turned back, looking up at the house and in one of the windows of the house was someone staring at him, seeing everything that Ned had done! Ned looked as hard and as close in the window as he could, but he couldn't tell who it was looking at him. Could it have been Mama, who could hardly stand, or was it mean Mrs. Scallop? It also could have been Papa.
Ned went along as if it never happened, even that he knew that it did. Everyday after school Ned would walk to Mr. Scully's house to help him. Then one day while he was there, Mr. Scully pointed out a strange cat. Ned looked at it closer and noticed that it only had one eye and must have been struggling to live. It had blood around the rim of his empty eye socket. Ned went home that night crying, knowing that must have been the shadow that he hit with his gun that dark night. But, was it really the cat that he hit or nothing at all?
In conclusion, I thought that Mrs. Paula Fox made a beautiful choice in publishing One-Eyed Cat. If she never had, then I would have never been able to read such and interesting and suspenseful book. Hopefully, this book has made others more aware that seemingly harmless actions could cause devastating results.

When Ned Wallis receives a rifle for his 11th birthday, he's got to try it out. But when his father hides the rifle in the attic, saying he's not old enough to have a gun, its hard for Ned to resist sneaking the gun out of the house. Soon, Ned finds himself outdoors with the rifle in his hands. Ned knows that what he's doing is wrong, but he only wants to take one shot. Thinking nothing of it, Ned shoots at a dark shadow. On his return home, Ned is sure he sees a face peering down at him from the attic window.

After lying once about the incident to his parents, Ned soon finds himself buried in a giant sea of lies. While helping his elderly neighbor, Mr. Scully, Ned spots a wild cat with one eye missing. Is this what Ned shot at that night? Ned feels terrible that he might have wounded the cat. He even starts feeding the cat, which often takes shelter in Mr. Scully's shed. Ned feels guilty because the person who was in the attic window still knows what he did, but hasn't yet turned him in. He starts thinking it would have been better to have not shot at the dark shadow in the first place. Ned knows he needs to tell someone his secret, but who?

I really enjoyed this book because I could relate to the main character. Although I had to force myself to keep reading at times, the book got increasingly interesting as I continued to read. The unique plot and setting made the tale sound very realistic. There was not much action in this book, but Paula Fox's writing style made me want to keep reading to find out what would happen next. I would recommend this book to readers of all ages because there's something in this book for everyone!