Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth [Hardcover]

Lloyd Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Here’s the book that started it all—Lloyd Alexander’s first fantasy for young readers—back in hardcover!

Gareth’s definitely not an ordinary cat. For one thing, he can talk. For another, he’s got the power to travel through time—

“Anywhere, any time, any country, any century,” Gareth tells Jason. And in the wink of a very special cat’s eye, they’re off. From ancient Egypt to Japan, the land of young Leonardo da Vinci to the town of a woman accused of witchcraft, Jason and Gareth are whisked from place to place and friend to foe.

Full of fun, excitement, and a good dose of history, here’s a fantastic tale that grabs the imagination and takes it far and wide, on the adventure of not one but nine amazing lifetimes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A boy named Jason has nine historical adventures with the help of Gareth, his talking, time-traveling cat. Ages 8-12.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"When most people hear 'large-print book,' they immediately think senior citizen. But large-print editions of popular children's books -- from the powerhouse Harry Potter series to timeless classics like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -- are now making their way onto the shelves of the Children's Department at the Canton Library. . . . Although large-print editions are targeted to the visually-impaired or dyslexic child, they can also be used by standard-vision readers. So Kershner [Children's librarian at the Canton Public Library] has decided against creating a special section in the Children's Department (as exists in the Adult Department) opting instead to intersperse large-print books on the shelves with the regular print versions of the same titles."
-- The Observer and Eccentric (October 2000) (The Observer and Eccentric )

"Thorndike Press has helped me not only find books I want to read, but they also look like regular books. That's important when you're a kid and you can only read Large Print, you want your book to look like all the other books. I'm reading a lot more now that we have found Thorndike Press."
-- Jim Bernardin, Islamorada, FL

"Everyone loves to read, there's nothing like curling up with a good book. We're a reading family, so when our son was diagnosed with Stargardt's Disease and only able to read Large Print, it was particularly difficult. Books on tape are wonderful but they don't fill the void of actually reading a good story. Large Print books have been around a long time for older people, but to find a good novel for a young person in Large Print began to feel nearly impossible. The books that Thorndike Press publishes have truly made a difference in my son's reading life. He can enjoy current novels as well as some of the classics that he missed reading when it became too difficult with regular print."
-- Sara Bernardin, Islamorada, FL --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805072705
• ISBN-13: 978-0805072709
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #976,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Few writers have inspired as much affection and interest among readers young and old as Lloyd Alexander. At one point, however, it seemed unlikely that he would ever be a writer at all. His parents could not afford to send him to college. And so when a Philadelphia bank had an opening for a messenger boy, he went to work there. Finally, having saved some money, he quit and went to a local college. Dissatisfied with not having learned enough to be a writer he left at the end of one term. Adventure, he decided was the best way. The United States had already entered World War II. Convinced that here was a chance for real deeds of derring-do, he joined the army -- and was promptly shipped to Texas where he became, in disheartening succession an artilleryman, a cymbal player in the band, an organist in the post chapel, and a first-aid man. At last, he was assigned to a military intelligence center in Maryland. There he trained as a member of a combat team to be parachuted into France to work with the Resistance. "This, to my intense relief, did not happen," says Alexander. Instead, Alexander and his group sailed to Wales to finish their training. This ancient, rough-hewn country, with its castles, mountains, and its own beautiful language made a tremendous impression on him. But not until years later did he realize he had been given a glimpse of another enchanted kingdom. Alexander was sent to Alsace-Lorraine, the Rhineland, and southern Germany. When the war ended, he was assigned to a counterintelligence unit in Paris. Later he was discharged to attend the University of Paris. While a student he met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine, and they soon married. Life abroad was fascinating, but eventually Alexander longed for home. The young couple went back to Drexel Hill, near Philadelphia, where Alexander wrote novel after novel which publishers unhesitatingly turned down. To earn his living, he worked as a cartoonist, advertising writer, layout artist, and associate editor for a small magazine. It took seven years of constant rejection before his first novel was at last published. During the next ten years, he wrote for adults. And then he began writing for young people.Doing historical research for Time Cat he discovered material on Welsh mythology. The result was The Book of Three and the other chronicles of Prydain, the imaginary kingdom being something like the enchanted land of Wales. In The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen Alexander explored yet another fantastic world. Evoking an atmosphere of ancient China, this unique multi-layered novel was critically acclaimed as one of his finest works. Trina Schart Hyman illustrated The Fortune-tellers as a Cameroonian folktale sparkling with vibrant images, keen insight and delicious wit. Most of the books have been written in the form of fantasy. But fantasy, Alexander believes, is merely one of many ways to express attitudes and feelings about real people, real human relationships and problems

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book!, March 17, 2007

By 

C. Suzuki "book reader" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Cat (Puffin Modern Classic) (Puffin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

I am in second grade. This book had very good details and the exploring was really interesting. I love this book because I love cats too. I'm going to read more books by Mr. Alexander. I hope that all of you will read this book... Time Cat.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Purrfect!!!, August 13, 2003

By 

John (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth (Paperback)

Wow, that was pathetically corny, but I couldn't resist.

Anyway, Alexander's book is wonderful. He's certainly my favorite, but Time Cat still managed to surprise me. It was an entertaining story (which ALL of his are), and it also reached some of the depth of his best tales (Westmark, Prydain, The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian).

The concept is great. Everyone knows that cats have nine live, but we don't realize that they live them simultaneously in various periods and places and can move from life to life at will. The cat in this, Gareth, ends up taking a boy, Jason, with him to visit each life. They visit such places as Egypt: 2700 B.C., Ireland: 411 A.D., Peru: 1555, Italy: 1468, and others. They get through an exciting adventure in each place and time.

Each story is highly entertaining. You get to witness the excitement while learning about various cultural facts and historic figures (such as Saint Patrick and Leonardo da Vinci). The real strength in the novel is the way in which the stories work together to create a strong message about being in awe of life and living it with courage and compassion. Time Cat is a superb novel and one of Alexander's best.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light time travel adventure, March 23, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Cat (Hardcover)

"Time Cat" was the first book by classic writer Lloyd Alexander. It's a fluffy but enjoyable time travel adventure for cat-lovers and historical fantasy buffs alike; there's a little roughness around the edges, less detailed writing, but it's a pleasantly whimsical little trip through time.

Jason is up in his room after a fight with his mother and brother, with only his cat Gareth for company. To Jason's surprise, Gareth suddenly starts speaking to him. He is, surprisingly, a magical cat who can travel through time and space -- to any nine lives in the past. He takes Jason on a trip through time, to ancient Egypt where the boy-pharaoh wants to worship him; the Roman empire, where they are recruited by a legion and then captured by Celts; ancient Ireland, where they make enemies with a court magician and friends with a very special saint; Imperial Japan, where a young Emperor is given Gareth and a bunch of kittens as a gift; Renaissance Italy, where the two bump into a talented young painter; Spanish-dominated Peru, where they befriend a scatterbrained, silver-tongued young captain; they introduce a special cat to the Isle of Man; witch-hunters in medieval Germany; and finally making friends with a kindly cat-peddler in 1775 Boston.

"Time Cat" has no central plot. Instead, it is a series of vignettes: A couple of chapters are devoted to each time period. It's like an extended daydream, displaying what are presumably the time periods that interest (or possibly frighten) Alexander himself. He also displays some educational material about cats -- how they were seen through history, things about Manx cats, and about all the roles that cats can play in a person's life.

Jason is a sympathetic kid, very quiet in nature (except for the brother-punching incident near the beginning) with some clear insights into cats and some fuzzier insights into history. Gareth is a cool, calm, wise, serene -- the ideal cat. And he talks too! There are too many supporting characters to cover adequately, but some stand out in particular, such as Diahan, the Irish princess who shows signs of Alexander's later heroine Eilonwy, and Don Diego, a scatterbrained, homesick young Spaniard who gets things wrong -- but a few things very right.

Even people who don't like time travel stories may like this one, for its lack of pretension or faked dilemmas. And for cat lovers, this is a delightful little historical treat.