Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku [Hardcover]

Lee Wardlaw (Author), Eugene Yelchin (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Product Description

Nice place they got here.

Bed. Bowl. Blankie. Just like home!

Or so I've been told.

 

Visiting hours!

Yawn. I pretend not to care.

Yet -- I sneak a peek.

 

So begins this beguiling tale of a wary shelter cat and the boy who takes him home.

Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, this adoption story, told entirely in haiku, is unforgettable.

---

A Look Inside Won Ton
(Click on Images to Enlarge)

From School Library Journal

Gr 2-5-Text and illustrations work together to craft an unforgettable character in a shelter cat whose veneer of cynical toughness masks his vulnerability. As he gazes from behind the bars of his cage, he quips: "Nice place they got here./Bed. Bowl. Blankie. Just like home!/Or so I've been told." He's adopted by a boy and his family, driven home ("letmeoutletme/outletmeoutletmeout./Wait-let me back in!"); and given a name: "Won Ton? How can I/be soup? Some day, I'll tell you/my real name. Maybe." Yelchin's superb illustrations, graphite and gouache on watercolor paper, depict an angular blue-black-haired Siamese, capturing all facets of his singular, feisty, and playful personality. Wardlaw relates his tale using a series of senryu, three unrhymed lines similar to haiku; in a note, he explains that the form focuses on "the foibles of human nature-or in this case, cat nature." The book's overall design, with text laid carefully between and around eye-catching, brilliantly composed illustrations, complements the engaging tale. Won Ton's sweetly humorous story will steal the hearts of readers young and old.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (February 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805089950
• ISBN-13: 978-0805089950
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 7.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > Adoption
  • #92 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry

More About the Author

101 Ways to Bug Children's Book Author Lee Wardlaw:

#1. Ask her how many children's books she writes a day

#2. Ask her when she'll grow up and write 'real' books (meaning books for grown-ups)

#3. Tell her you'd write children's books too - if you had time.

Lee Wardlaw makes time: She's the author of numerous books for young readers, including the award-winning novels 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher and 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents.

But where does Lee get the ideas for so many books?

"From my own life," Lee says. "Corey's Fire is based on my family's experiences after our house and neighborhood were destroyed in a California wildfire. Dinosaur Pizza was inspired by my childhood love of bologna/mustard/potato-chip sandwiches. I wrote the folk tale picture book Punia and the King of Sharks because I admire Hawaii's rich history of hula storytelling. And my years of experience as a daughter, student, parent and classroom teacher gave me loads of creative material for my 'Bugging' series!"

Lee grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, where she attended Cold Spring Elementary, Santa Barbara Junior High and Santa Barbara High school. She graduated with honors from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, with a degree in education, and taught elementary school for five years before deciding to write full-time. Lee has 30+ years experience presenting lively and interactive writing programs in grades K through 8th. Since 1988, Lee has also taught a variety of workshops and classes for educators, librarians, parents and aspiring writers. For several years, she was the 'Ask the Children's Book Author' columnist for Inklings, an online magazine.

Lee's books have been honored by the American Library Association, the International Reading Association, Children's Book Council, National Council of the Social Studies, National Council of Teachers of English, Bank Street College of Education, the International School Librarians Association, and more. She has also won 7 state reader's choice awards. Lee is an active member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and belongs to the Author's Guild, California Reading Association, Children's Literature Council of Southern California and, yes, even the Cat Writers' Association. Upcoming releases include: Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Holt, 2010), 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends & Enemies (Dial, 2011) and Red, White & Boom! (Holt, 2011).

Lee is currently enrolled in Loyola College of Maryland and the Montessori Institute of San Diego, working on her master's degree in Education. She lives in Santa Barbara, CA, with her husband, teenage son, and three (ornery) cats.

To learn more about Lee, her books & workshops, and 98 other ways to bug her, visit her website at www.leewardlaw.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars But the cat came back / the very next day the cat / came back and he wouldn't . . ., February 20, 2011

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Hardcover)

A substitute teacher came up to my reference desk seeking, "Fun haiku books" to turn into lesson plans with their kids. That's the sort of open-ended question that can render your brain blank for a moment or two. Suddenly every haiku book for kids you've ever encountered flees from your brain. You're left gaping like a fish, desperately scanning your poetry shelves for one, just ONE, haiku book that will help. Then, if you're really in trouble, you start thinking of books that are so new to your library system that it's no good to remember them anyway. For instance, the last time this happened I found myself thinking of Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku. A spirited little story that couldn't be simpler, the first person narrative of a feline in a new home is told entirely in haikus. With plenty of things to love for poetry and cat lovers alike, Won Ton takes an old form and renders it furry.

Split into little unnumbered chapters ("The Shelter", "The Choosing", etc.) we hear the tale of a cat named Won Ton (though that's not his "read" name, mind). A shelter kitty, Won Ton is adopted by a nice boy and goes off to start a new life. For a cat there are plenty of things to explore and figure out. There's the couch that makes for an excellent scratching post and the moths that make for "a dusty snack". In the end, Won Ton makes it clear that he's not his boy's cat. The boy is his boy. And finally, " `Good night, Won Ton,' you / whisper. Boy it's time you knew: / My name is Haiku."

It's interesting that right off the bat the Author's Note makes it clear that the book isn't told in haiku at all but rather senryu. Actually, I'm being facetious. Senryu, which focuses on "the foibles of human nature - or in this case, cat nature" appears to have been developed from haiku itself. This would make it an ideal book for classroom study, then. We hear about kids that have to write their own haikus all the time. How many have to write senryus, eh?

I liked that in the Dedication we learn that the author has cats named Mai Tai, Papaya, and Koloa. Won Ton isn't all that kooky a name in comparison. As for the haikus themselves, they're definitely less evocative and more driven by a deep and abiding knowledge of cat personalities. The repeated joke throughout the book are the haikus that go, "Letmeoutletme / outletmeoutletmeout. / Wait - let me back in!" These occur periodically throughout the book. Of course, I wondered how well this kind of poetry would read aloud. Often Wardlaw has to break apart a line mid-sentence with varying degrees of success. Some poems don't require the continuous flow of a sentence from one line to another. Others get a bit confusing when the lines aren't next to one another. In one long line, "Naptime! Begone, oh / fancy pad. I prefer these / socks. They smell of you" looks fine. Broken up it's a little hard to read. For the most part, though, everything is fairly smooth.

Eugene Yelchin is the illustrator paired with Ms. Wardlaw for this book and he's an artist I've not seen much of before. Yelchin for this book has taken graphite and gouache to watercolor paper to create these images. His style is an elongated series of stretched lines, something akin to an artist like Jules Feiffer, though Yelchin reigns himself in a bit more. I particularly enjoyed his backgrounds. When Won Ton is in the shelter the background switches from plain white to gray or gray-blue or gray-pink. Then when the family returns home with their new cat, the artist takes a moment to render a landscape heavily influenced by older Japanese prints of mountainous backgrounds. Inside the home the colors brighten. Yellows and oranges and maybe a light blue. Patterned carpets and backyard scenes allow for more tips of the hat to Japanese prints, but not so much you're taken out of the reading. Yelchin's humans pretty much stay out of the picture, seen only in body parts until the boy's face appears at the end as a kind of reward. As for Won Ton himself, the artist has clearly studied cats, and how much you take to it may depend on how much of a cat person you are. Yelchin's hero is almost all outline. The shading is done well enough, but when you think back on the art, it's the black outlines that remain in your mind. That seems to be the style that's primarily at work here.

When we think of famous poetical kitties the first thing that tends to come to mind is Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. Actually, this book pairs pretty well with Old Possum, particularly when it comes to the naming of cats. Won Ton isn't particularly fond of his human-bestowed name, and little wonder since he has a name of his own already. Much like the Jellicle Cats of Eliot's world, this cat is the master of his moniker. The book also brought to mind one of my favorite feline poetry titles A Curious Collection of Cats by Betsy Franco. Some of Won Ton's habits here are replicated perfectly in Ms. Franco's book. The two would read well together, I should think. As it stands, of course, Won Ton has no difficulty standing on its own. A cheery ode to a boy and his cat, this is one of the books to grab the next time someone asks you for "fun haiku". Or really, any poetry in general.

For ages 4-8.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mee-WOW! Wish I could give this 10 stars!, February 20, 2011

By 

Amy D. Shojai "Amy D. Shojai, CABC" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Hardcover)

This large format, color illustrated book supposedly is for kids. Sure, kids will love the gorgeous pictures, and enjoy the read-aloud text. But adult cat lovers will fight over this book--good luck getting it away from parents to give to the children! Lee has captured the essence of cat-liness in delightful verse, and the gorgeous evocative paintings match the story with clever, humorous, and touching illustrations.

It's clear that Lee (author) and Eugene (illustrator) know cats, know shelters, and know cat lovers. This book will surely help youngsters grasp an important appreciation for kitties. Shelters and cat lovers alike will embrace the book. Won Ton (aka "Haiku") is a purr-fect litter-ary feline ambassador. Bravo!

--Amy Shojai, CABC, author of 23 pet care books and founder/past president of the Cat Writers Association.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I got cat class and I got cat style, April 16, 2011

By 

Madigan McGillicuddy "Librarian" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Hardcover)

This sassy collection of narrative poems tell the story of Won Ton, a shelter cat taken in by a young boy. Technically, the poems are not haiku, but, as Wardlaw explains in the author's note, senryu, identical to the haiku form, with a three line 5-7-5 syllable format, but instead "the foibles of human nature -or in this case, cat nature- are the focus, expressed by a narrator in a humorous, playful or ironic way."

The difference between haiku and senryu is immediately apparent. Rather than conjuring a soothing, reflective, meditative mood common to haiku, these poems are irreverent, funny and witty. Wardlaw perfectly captures the essence of Won Ton's catlike nature. I had initially assumed that Yelchin's illustrations (with clean lines that punctuate the text nicely) were digitally-enhanced, but they were created old-school, with graphite and gouche on watercolor paper. Won Ton is depicted as a lean, black cat with wide blue eyes and an expressive range of emotions.

Each poem is such a short little gem, it's hard not to quote the whole book, but I have a few that I must mention. On being in the shelter, Won Ton says, "Gypsy on my left/Pumpkin, on my right. Together/we are all alone." Woefully bored cats stare out of cages, while Won Ton sits with his back turned, paws tucked in. Just after being chosen, Won Ton says, "Latch squeaks. Door swings wide./Free! Free at last! Yet, one claw/snags, clings to what's known." Oh my gosh. Who hasn't felt like that at least once in their lifetime? Here's another of my favorites, after Won Ton has finally started to settle in to his new home. "Your tummy, soft as/warm dough. I knead and knead, then/bake it with a nap." What great imagery!

Yes, this original and enjoyable book will receive plenty of attention in April, National Poetry Month, but it's too good to enjoy only one month of the year. I'll recommend this book for cat-lovers everywhere, year-round.