Book 25 of 2022: Old Cat and the Kitten | DNF: Ordinary Magic and Orphans of the Tide

[thistlechaser]

Old Cat and the Kitten by Mary E. Little. If I believed in burning or banning books, this one would be the first (and only) one on my list. I'm not sure what the point of the story is, other than showing anyone who cares about cats what not to do. And yet in bold on the Amazon page is:

Animal and pet lovers everywhere will delight in “special story” of patience and love between a boy and a stray cat that is “beautifully told”

Published in the 70s and set maybe ten years earlier (the dialogue was so dated), a young boy befriended a stray tomcat. His mother (an awful woman, though I'm sure was just supposed to be a woman of her times and not meant to be abusive) discouraged him at every turn. His siblings were awful, too (to the point that the family all called them "the fiends"). Midway through the story, the tomcat brings a kitten to the boy (the whole tom/kitten 'relationship' was completely unbelievable).

Eventually the family has to move and couldn't take the cats. The mother mocked the boy and scolded him for "wasting his time" caring about the fate of the cats. Eventually he found a new home for the kitten, but couldn't for the cat. So he took him to the vet and had him put him to sleep.

Amazon has rankings for this book listed for:
1) Children's Social Skills
2) Children's Pet Books (Books)
3) Children's Cat Books (Books)

Children's. Social. Skills.
Pet books.
Cat books.

The Amazon description says "As it compassionately addresses a sensitive topic". That is complete and utter BS. There was no addressing or discussing anything. The boy visits an old lady (the one who is taking the kitten) and she tells him how she had to put her beloved cat down when he was too old and sick to enjoy life anymore. Which is not at all the same as the boy's situation.

The moral of this book is that when an animal is no longer convenient, you should just kill it!

I wouldn't let a child get near this book, other than maybe an older one so you could teach them what NOT to do. I wouldn't give this book to a cat or pet lover unless you hated them.

DNF:

38) Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway. In a world where everyone is born with magic, very rarely someone is born without any. At age 12, all kids are judged to see what magic level they have. When she turned 12, the main character was found to be an "ord" (short for ordinary) -- she had no magic.

That could make for a really interesting story, other than the worldbuilding really made no sense. Ords become non-people. No rights. Not even permitted to speak. Their parents usually sell them to a circus or some other group that can make use of them. (What parent would do that! Raise a child for 12 years and then just in the blink of an eye hate them and be willing to sell them into worse than slavery?)

There were other plot holes and things that made no sense, so I just gave up on this one.

39) Orphans of the Tide by Struan Murray. This was one of the few books where a technical issue made me stop reading. For some reason, the font size changed radically between each (short) chapter, so I kept having to adjust the it. The story didn't hook me enough to put up with that longer than a couple chapters.

Comments

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

You know, I don't mind harsh realism in animal books (one of my favorites has the main character- a dog- escape drowning when someone throws a sack of puppies in a river to get rid of them- in the first chapter!) but this one sounds really problematic. I looked at the few reviews on Amzn- appalling that someone said the "old cat" was five years. That's prime, not elderly! (My cat, and yes he goes outside, is over 18). Maybe back then cats had a far shorter lifespan, but still??

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

The author never said how old the cat was, but I got the impression he wasn't old-old, just not-a-kitten (adult) "old". He had been living on the street just fine, outsmarting dogs to get food (showing himself at one end of the alleyway, then when the dog goes running for him, somehow double back and get food out of the dog's bowl).

Usually I don't mind hard realism in books, but this was more like approved-cruelty. The mother said the boy was becoming a man, because he was able to have the cat put to sleep.

It could have been just because it was a different time, but it still bothered me. I feel REALLY strongly about people who adopt pets and then just toss them out when it's no longer convenient to own them.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

eeeeeek!