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Summary
Summary
Thrown into a river by a cruel human, a young tiger-striped cat fights to survive amid feral cats and other creatures near Roxville train station, aided by Mike, an eleven-year-old foster boy who is not allowed to have a pet.
Author Notes
Jean Craighead George was born on July 2, 1919 in Washington, D.C. She received degrees in English and science from Pennsylvania State University. She began her career as a reporter for the International News Service. In the 1940s she was a member of the White House press corps for The Washington Post.
During her lifetime, she wrote over 100 novels including My Side of the Mountain, which was a 1960 Newbery Honor Book, On the Far Side of the Mountain, Julie of the Wolves, which won the Newbery Medal, Julie, and Julie's Wolf Pack. She also wrote two guides to cooking with wild foods and an autobiography entitled Journey Inward. In 1991, she became the first winner of the School Library Media Section of the New York Library Association's Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature. She died on May 15, 2012 at the age of 92.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-A cat survives a drowning attempt and makes her new home among a community of feral cats. Rachet also joins the wider natural community of foxes, raccoons, skunks, and owls; yet, her every thought, every move, is in line with natural feline behavior. Even Mike, the orphan boy who names Rachet and would love to adopt her, is characterized without sentimentality. He identifies with the cat's survival instinct and is learning to speak cat in his attempt to win her trust, which makes him seem remarkably enlightened compared to the other humans in the story. While George is consistent in her portrayal of the cats as creatures dictated by an instinctual standard of behavior, the book at times is too much science lesson and not often enough story. Pohrt's black-and-white illustrations provide a softer look at the felines, often catching them in the unguarded moments that cat lovers adore: rolling on their backs, enjoying a cozy bed, contemplating a blade of grass. Despite its attractive, almost bucolic cover, the story will appeal more to nonfiction readers than to fans of animal stories.-Kara Schaff Dean, Walpole Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Abused and abandoned, a young tabby cat adapts to the feral cat community of suburban Roxville Station -- and slowly, cautiously bonds with an orphan boy whose foster mother plumb hates cats. The resolution? Ratchet, after clawing her way to top-cat rank at the station, also responds to her domestic-cat promptings by becoming Mike's "outside pet." Meanwhile, in George's practiced way, the various cats -- each with its own First Home, Sunning Spot, and Hunting Lookout -- go their various ways, pursuing and pursued by the town's other animals, wild and domestic...all of which can easily be followed in Tom Pohrt's bird's-eye view of the town (and seen close-up in his drawings). Human agency intervenes, too. The Bent Lady of the housing project, who feeds the station cats each morning, is dispossessed by a new building and the town's decree that it be cat-free, which is harder on her than on her scrappy charges. Jean George's veteran readers, indeed, will be struck by the resemblance between the cat society of Roxville Station and the world of Julie's Arctic wolves; some of them may also want to investigate the four-footed society, unsuspected by humans, in their own backyards. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A cruel woman and her abusive children once owned Ratchet, a young, orange, female tabby. Once the children have gone off to school, the woman tosses Ratchet off a bridge near the Roxville Train Station. Ratchet survives and quickly integrates herself into the feral-cat community and the larger natural community in the area. Thirteen-year-old Mike would love to have a cat, but his foster mother, Mrs. Dibber, hates animals. From his first sighting of Ratchet, Mike knows they are meant to be special friends. As Mike slowly ingratiates himself with Ratchet, she survives a fox attack, fumigation, her first litter and developers who need the cats out of the way so they can improve the train station. Newbery winner and naturalist George packs a lot of natural information on species from mosquitoes to owls in this slim volume. There is no anthropomorphization of the cats; when Ratchet and the other cats "talk" it is with scent and body language. Pohrt's line drawings complement the text nicely. Cat lovers and George's fans will be happy she is back. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
George, whose writings have taken readers many places in the natural world, now brings them a story set close to home: a New York train station, the gathering spot of a group of feral cats. Ratchet, an orange-and-white cat, is dumped on the road. Suddenly on her own, she must adapt to the life of an outdoor cat, foraging for food, finding a place to live, avoiding predators, and adjusting to the feral-cat hierarchy. There's a boy, too, Mike, who wants to bring her home; unfortunately, his foster mother hates cats. Without anthropomorphism, yet personalizing her characters, George follows Ratchet as she leaves kittenhood and becomes the savvy feline who can watch out for herself as well as her eventual kittens. Simply and directly, George weaves the whys and wherefores of cats' lives (as well as those of other animals) into a smooth narrative. The adult characters are sometimes overdrawn, especially Mike's unpleasant foster mother, but with the felines in the forefront, they're easily ignored. This is a book kids will both enjoy and learn from.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2009 Booklist
