Great Childrens Book For Amazon Kindle! “Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was A Dog!”
Great Children’s Book For Amazon Kindle!
New Childrens Book For Amazon Kindle, "Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was A Dog!"
“Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was Dog!” is available exclusively for Amazon Kindle. I downloaded it quickly and this children’s kindle book was ready to read within a couple of minutes, which was a good thing because my kids and their two friends were jumping all over the backseat. It was bumper to bumper on the freeway–and we were an accident waiting to happen.
I passed my Amazon Kindle back to them with the kid book, “Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was A Dog” and it was like magic–they quieted and started reading. (I can’t tell you which of those two I liked better!)
I did notice in the rearview mirror though, that the story engaged them right away. It’s no wonder because “Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was A Dog” has an endearing opening. Here’s the first paragraph:
“Ever since he could remember, Sketch had lived amongst dogs. There were three of them and Sketch was the fourth. Once he had tried to bark like his brothers but only a strange, high-pitched sound had come out and they had all looked at him. He had felt really embarrassed. After that time, he’d always thought there was something wrong with him, even though his brothers treated him well, as one of their own.”
After everyone was in bed, I sat in my favorite chair with my new Kindle and a cup of tea to read “Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was A Dog.”
New Children's Book For Amazon Kindle! "Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was A Dog!"
So it’s now Saturday morning, we’ve all had breakfast, and I can tell you: I really, really like this kid book. No, that’s not true–I love it. Little Sketch is adorable, he’s a cat who has always lived with dogs and has never known anything else. And at its heart, this kid book is about being different and knowing that there’s nothing wrong with that, in fact, it teaches kids that it’s great to be different.
Let’s look at the story. The forest adventures of a cat and dogs begin, and we meet the three dogs that Sketch considers family. They have always taken care of him and accepted the fact that he is not a dog. We first meet Krypto, a muscular Boxer dog, the dog who watched over Sketch when he was a little kitten. ”. . . even letting him eat out of his own bowl. They drank water together every morning too.” How cute is that?
Then we meet Corso, a giant, grey-colored mixed breed who is the most intelligent of the three and helps Sketch find his true strengths.. He is a dog who has lived on the streets before, which is why he always knows where to find good food (like pizza). He just lets his nose lead the way.
The third one is a huge Labrador, with “fur the color of the Sun,” as writer Gabriel Hroz puts it. Turn the electronic page of this popular children’s book and we soon learn that the main character of the book, Little Sketch, has begun to wonder why he’s so different than his three big brothers. He can’t howl or growl no matter how hard he tries. But the problem of course is that Little Sketch doesn’t know he’s a cat.
Sketch is sad about being different until he learns that he can climb trees, which he loves to do. And along the way he discovers the sharp claws hidden in his paws and notices that he can stretch his paws to use them only when he needs them, something his brothers can’t do.
Then one day, he meets Mr. Tree, and it turns out to be a very interesting meeting. Here’s the excerpt:
The Sun was warm on his face. He closed his eyes slowly to feel it better. He meowed and stretched and scratched his claws on the bark underneath him. All of a sudden, a windy voice came from all around him!
“Ha-ha-ha, that tickles!” the Voice said.
Sketch looked around, “who are you?”
“Why are you so surprised?” came the voice, “didn’t you know Trees could talk?”
Sketch didn’t know what to say, so he just listened. The voice was like leaves moving in the Wind. “My name is Mr . Tree, what’s yours?”
And as this great kid book unfolds, Sketch begins to learn more and more about himself. With Mr. Tree’s help, he is able to actually see himself for the first time. (He looks in his bowl and notices his reflection in the water’s surface.) After that, Sketch knows he is completely different than his brothers. It’s the wise Mr. Tree and the elder dog, Corso, that help Sketch see just how important it is to be different and to focus on his strengths.
So, after giving this book a real world test on the freeway with 4 kids, adn then reading it myself over a cup of tea, I would say this kid book is a worthwhile addition to any parent’s Kindle library. Having it on your Kindle is the most convenient way to read to your kids–anytime, anywhere.
About the story itself, the storyline is engaging and the characters well-drawn. The main character, Little Sketch, encounters a problem that many kids face: being different, not fitting in, which makes him easy to identify with. And the lesson learned is a valuable thing for all children to know, that each one of them is unique, with his, or her, own strengths and talents. These are what they should focus on.
So I highly recommend the “Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was A Dog” to anyone with kids and a kindle who wants their children to know that it’s great to be different. This kid book will definitely be one of the most popular children’s books this year.
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Sophia Cohen is a writer, Nature lover, mom, cat and dog owner, and last but definitely not least–a book lover.
Want to get the popular children’s book, “Sketch, The Cat Who Thought He Was A Dog!”on your Amazon Kindle this Christmas? Visit Gabriel Hroz’s blog at http://gabrielhroz.wordpress.com or go to Amazon’s Kindle Store and download it within a minute.
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Children’s Book Review: Wabi Sabi
Haiku For Cats
By JOANNA RUDGE LONG
Originally Published November 7, 2008 in NYTimes
In a long, distinguished career, Ed Young has often conveyed the depth of apparently simple stories through his illustrations. “Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story From China” (1989) won him a Caldecott Medal with its dramatic pictures (including a particularly fearsome wolf), creatively enhanced by the thematic use of light and shadow — which also resonates in his dedication: “To all the wolves of the world for lending their good name as a tangible symbol for our darkness.” He added a dimension to the Indian fable of the blind men and the elephant with “Seven Blind Mice”: Six mice, in rainbow colors, misconstrue the bits of the elephant they touch, but the seventh — white, like unrefracted light — explores the whole and grasps the truth.
Like these stories, Mark Reibstein’s “Wabi Sabi” — chosen this fall as a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book — has a familiar scenario: a cat named Wabi Sabi seeks her name’s meaning, elicits various responses and comes home wiser. From P. D. Eastman’s “Are You My Mother?” to J. R. R. Tolkien’s hobbits, it’s a reliable formula, famously summarized in T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets”: “We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.”
But while the plot of “Wabi Sabi” is simple, its purpose is demanding: to present an elusive concept with origins “in ancient Chinese ways of understanding and living, known as Taoism and Zen Buddhism.” As Reibstein puts it: “Wabi sabi is a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture. It finds beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, natural, modest and mysterious. . . . It may best be understood as a feeling, rather than as an idea.” Remarkably, Reibstein and Young capture the essence of all of this with clarity, elegance and a kind of indirection that seems intrinsic to the subject.
The book’s structure is intricate. Young responds to three different strands of text. The first — the prose narrative — is direct and informal (“It had never occurred to her before that wabi sabi was anything more than her name”). Then each episode concludes with a haiku — an oblique glimpse of what the animal characters call “hard to explain.” (“The pale moon resting / on foggy water. Hear that / splash? A frog’s jumped in.”)On each spread there’s another haiku, a decorative grace note in delicate Japanese characters (translations appear at the end, along with transliterations of these classics by Basho and Shiki).
Wabi Sabi’s quest and the splendid pictures will please younger children (though probably not as young as the publisher’s recommended range of 3 to 6). The rest of us will be better prepared to appreciate the subtle interconnections among dialogue, poetry and collages fashioned from “time-worn human-made as well as natural materials.” Even this medium is a metaphor for the gentle philosophy explored here. The art is rich in leaf greens and glowing reds; in the textures of hair, straw, crazed paint or rough paper. Young captures moments of transcendent beauty — a frog visible through moon-struck water (crumpled, iridescent paper) — and his art incorporates traditional haiku references (a pale moon, symbol of autumn).
Life-size, the cat invites us in, peering intently from the large, square jacket. Opening it, we find that she’s among pine trees, which (since the book is hinged at the top) are now above her. That top hinge is brilliant. It recalls Japanese wall hangings, and it reinforces the theme by compelling us to see this familiar object from a new angle. Also, like many a cat intent on her own agenda, this book’s no lap sitter. It’s a challenge to hold and angle it comfortably, to turn pages with hands accustomed to accessible right-hand corners.
Wabi Sabi completes her quest after several small, satisfying epiphanies. Meanwhile, the lovely illustrations grow less detailed until, home at last, the cat is simply silhouetted on white, the single, freely brushed character above her declaring, “Free of possessions.” If wabi sabi is “a feeling, rather than an idea,” this outcome feels just right.
Joanna Rudge Long, a former editor at Kirkus Reviews, writes and lectures about children’s books.
