Someday When My Cat Can Talk [Hardcover]

Caroline Lazo (Author), Kyrsten Brooker (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

THIS CHARMING, CHILD-CENTRIC book offers a glimpse into a cat’s exciting “other” life. In a little girl’s fantasy, her cat sneaks away, hops a ship, and sails off to Europe! And someday, when he can talk, he’ll tell her all about the amazing things he discovered there . . . like whether or not British cats drink tea . . . and how he strutted down the runway in a Paris fashion show. With facts about each place the cat visits included simply in the rhyming text, and in more detail at the end (including a map charting his route), this is sure to provide a great introduction to travel.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A young girl imagines the secret adventures of her tight-lipped kitty companion, including stowing away on an ocean liner, bound for the cultural delights of Europe. No ordinary tourist, the felicitous feline dines on mouse at Buckingham Palace, models on the catwalks of Paris, and hobnobs backstage at Vienna’s grand Opera House before returning home to the Nantucket shore. Offering a story that will inspire wanderlust in the littlest travelers, Lazo provides a charming rhyming text, but readers might want to make a preliminary run-through as some of the chosen pronunciations of French locales can cause stumbles. Brooker’s sophisticated collage illustrations, incorporating brocade textiles and wallpaper, pearls, and other frills and finery, invite readers to explore each scene for the various treasures found within. Endpapers display a map of the feline’s travels, and a brief author’s note provides some background history and detail about each stopover. Grades K-2. --Kristen McKulski

About the Author

Caroline Lazo has written numerous biographies for children, including Alice Walker: Freedom Writer, which was a Society of School Librarians International (SSLI) Honor Book. This is her first picture book. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Kyrsten Brooker’s wonderful books for children include Precious and the Boo Hag by Patricia C. McKissack, an ALA Notable Book and a School Library Book of the Year, and Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter, a National Council of Teachers Notable Trade Book. She lives in Alberta, Canada.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade (April 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 037583754X
• ISBN-13: 978-0375837548
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,242,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read-aloud with beautiful illustrations, January 1, 2009

By 

The Well-Read Child "http://wellreadchild.blo... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Someday When My Cat Can Talk (Hardcover)

In this charming picture book, a little girl imagines what her cat does when he wanders off at night, and she imagines what he'd tell her about his adventures if he could talk. So what does this cat do? He goes on a European Adventure of course! In verse, the girl chronicles her cat's adventures in England, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece, and Holland.

Here's what she has to say about his trip to Spain:


"He'll talk about events in Spain--
like bullfights every spring.
And he'll praise himself for stopping one
by jumping in the ring.

He'll relive the Spanish soccer games
when he played just like a pro
and all the senoritas yelled,
Que Magnifico! "


In the book, a valiant-looking cat is standing in the middle of a bull ring, holding his arms out while a perplexed matador and bull look down on him. On the other side, the cat is dressed in a soccer uniform while ladies cheer him on in the stands.


Kyrsten Brooker's rich and whimsical illustrations give the book an "old-world" feel and take readers back to another place and time.


Caroline Lazo's words just roll off your tongue and will captivate children who are hearing the book read aloud to them.

In the back of the book, readers can learn more about each country the cat visits, and the end papers depict a map of his adventure.

A book that celebrates imagination and teaches kids a little about geography and other countries, this book makes an excellent choice for plain-old read aloud fun!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In a little girl's fantasy her cat leads a secret life only she knows about, June 15, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Someday When My Cat Can Talk (Hardcover)

In a little girl's fantasy her cat leads a secret life only she knows about - from visiting distant lands in Europe to winning an art award for an artistic mousetrap rewiring job or visiting the seashore. Whimsical drawings illustrate a gentle geography guide following a cat's many lives.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many directions at once..., June 9, 2008

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Someday When My Cat Can Talk (Hardcover)

This children's picturebook might try to do a little too much all at once -- is it a book about kittycats, or about European travel? The "hook" in the title is that, when her cat learns to talk, he'll tell her all about his world (preferably in rhyme...) That's all very well and fine, but then, after a few pages of telling her about dogs and flowers and fish, the cat jumps a ship and goes abroad on a whirlwind tour of Europe with cute little couplets for each destination - England, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece. The artwork (from Kyrsten Brooker, whose work I like a lot) helps bring the text alive, but the story is muddled. It's also not particularly cat-oriented, when you come down to it: he runs an Olympic torch relay, goes in for bullfighting, etc., but his feline nature mostly gets lost in the mix. The concept might work for some folks (cat loving parents about to take Junior overseas on the Grand Tour?) but others might get a little lost in the rush to pack in so many ideas all at once.