Castaway Cats
by Lisa Wheeler
Illustrated by Ponder Goembel
Genre: Picture Book Sub-Genre: Fiction/Adventure
Themes: Diversity, overcoming differences, teamwork, adventure
Primary Characters: The Angora cat, the "marmalade" tom cat, the alley cat
Secondary Characters: The seven kittens, various other adult cats
Awards: Starred review, School Library Journal
Published on June 1, 2006 by Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
This story begins on a desert island, with 15 soggy kitties who have been shipwrecked! Consisting of eight adults and seven kittens, this is a very "colorful" group of characters. From the prissy angora to the tough alley tom, it's safe to say that the felines are quite aware of their differences. However, after waiting for some time with no hope of a ship coming to rescue them, the cats finally decide to build a boat of their own to escape the island. The task calls for them to all work together, and in doing so, they finally begin to discover that they can get along fairly well after all! By the story's end, they consider one another to be "family"; a very happy ending! Because this book is written in verse, I would likely use it as a read-aloud for my students as part of a literary unit on poetry. It might be good for practicing choral poetry.
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