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(Ages 5 up)
Read Suddenly the Cat on the Web.
WHAT READERS SAY ABOUT
Suddenly the Cat
SAN PABLO THIRD GRADERS
PALM SPRINGS THIRD GRADERS
EDUCATORS
While doing a series of author's presentations to elementary schools a few years ago, I had the most enchanting experience. Enchanting both to me and to the students. It was the reading aloud of
Suddenly the Cat that kept the students agog.
Vivian Harp contributed her dazzling photographs of this pure white
cat with one blue eye and one yellow eye and the most expressive face you will
ever see on a cat. I projected Vivian's photos as a slide show as I read the story
aloud. Kids absolutely
love this story, and these photographs of Vivian's are so humorous and full of kitty
character that the kids laugh and laugh. Suddenly is very vain and demanding and adorable,
and the kid who
narrates the story clearly has fallen head over heels in love with this cat.
In the presentations in Palm Springs we were all lucky to have David Rauscher,
the illustrator, along. Dave and I were able to talk about the artistic collaboration
we had while putting together A Ghost in Silence
and the students were full
of questions both about writing and about illustrating. In addition, while I read
the story aloud, Dave was up in front of the class with his laptop creating his
own illustrations for Suddenly the Cat and at the end of the presentation,
Dave was able to show his progress, much to the students' delight and edification.
The students got really excited to
see the way an illustrator works with an author's story, and it spurred
them not only to
write stories themselves, but also to illustrate them.
At other schools where Dave couldn't join me, still I spent a good part of the time talking about his and my collaboration. And I would include a few of
Dave's drawings for A Ghost in Silence in the slide show. Those illustrations
are from the dramatic first chapter about a family uproar that ensues when the
narrator's older brother runs afoul of their parents. This part of the story seems always
very familiar to the students and they paid rapt attention.
You can see Dave's illustrations and Vivian's photos for Suddenly the Cat in the
link at the top and bottom of this webpage. I always invited students to come to this website
to reread the story and make
illustrations of their own. I gave the teachers my address so that the teachers
could
collect the illustrations and mail them to me. With the students' permission, I scanned some of
their illustrations and include them as links above. Those kids astonish me.
This is the paperback cover design by David Rauscher for
A Ghost in Silence.
Read Suddenly the Cat on the Web.
Contact: Clayton Bess
Copyright © 2009, rev. 2018 Robert Locke
All Rights Reserved
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