Customer Reviews

Senor Don Gato: A Traditional Song

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Manders energetic and humorous paintings enliven a long-time favorite of Spanish-language audiences for a new generation of English-speaking children. It opens:

Oh, Senor Don Gato was a cat.
On a high red roof Don Gato sat.
He went there to read a letter,
Where the reading light was better
'Twas a love note for Don Gato.

Manders depicts the portly gentleman perched on a chair on a steep tile roof, sipping from a teacup and drinking in the words of a sweet lady cat, who assents to wed him.

Alas, or more appropriately, "Ayyy-Caramba!!!" Don Gato takes a tall tumble, and "in spite of everything the doctors tried, poor Don Gato up and died." A rare occurrence on the way to the cemetery, however, provides Don Gato with, if not eight additional lives, at least one more opportunity for happiness with his lovely betrothed.

Using a palette rich in red, gold and brown tones, Manders evokes a Spanish colonial town, with church tower and balconied homes lining narrow cobblestone streets-all timelessly tucked away in sun-drenched hills.

Manders uses the long-known English translation, with its spry rhyme and clever lyrics, loosely based upon the traditional Mexican song. Unfortunately, the authorship of both the original and the translation have been lost to history.

I purchased this book for my sister's birthday. We used to sing this when we were young and I thought it would bring back great childhood memories, and it did. great book

I remember singing this in song form in elementary school and sang it to my children. The love life of a cat and his broken whiskers, ribs and solarplexes, quite funny, I read and point to my children to cue them into the `Meow, meow, meows'. They giggle every time!
This book is hard cover, very nicely illustrated and I'm thrilled to be able to pass this story on to my children.

I found this in my local library and remembered the song we used to sing in elementary school. After reading it to my daughter, she was hooked. We had to get it after checking it out a few times from the library and paying some overdue fees. The illustrations are great! I'm really sad this book isn't in print anymore, but luckily there are used ones out there.