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kendras's review
5.0
Just read this again for the second time. This work is pure perfection in my humble opinion. A tale of sacrifice, patience, & humility, faith, loyalty and piety, it remains true to itself to its beautiful end. Although a deserving Newbery winner, I believe its true meaning may require a slightly more mature reader. It is an emotional read for me. I just can’t say enough about it except it should be read.
seuknitcat's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
sandyd's review
3.0
I had very mixed feelings about this book. Parts of it I liked a lot, other parts I detested. My detailed review is here: http://newberryproject.blogspot.com/2009/01/cat-who-went-to-heaven.html at the Newbery Project.
debnanceatreaderbuzz's review
3.0
This story was a lovely little folk tale that reminded me of all the best of the Newbery books. A young man has been commissioned by the temple to paint a picture of Buddha as he blesses the animals. He slowly adds animals, telling the tale and the strength of each. Then the artist comes to the cat, an animal which had, by tradition, rejected the Buddha and thus was excluded from heaven. But it is the artist's cat that has inspired him in his work and the artist knows it is the cat's greatest wish to be included in the painting. At last, the artist makes the difficult decision to include the cat in the painting. The ending is surprising and lovely.
hlburke's review
3.0
I can't remember if I've read this before or just other versions of the same tale/myth, but I read it out loud to my nine-year-old (didn't keep my five-year-old's interest) recently.
The ending weirded her out, and I don't think it got the reaction intended because she was both laughing at how odd the ending was and maybe tearing up a little bit because dead cat.
I don't know how accurate a representation this is of Buddhism, but it definitely did bring up a chance to discuss different religions and beliefs.
Still, that ending, I think is supposed to be deep and what not, but at the line where the cat just suddenly drops dead of happiness seeing herself in the picture, Coryn was like, "What?"
then she started giggling because to her that was so silly, that the cat died of happiness. Then she teared up a little because "dead cat" then she laughed some more and had to go tell her little sister how ridiculous it was.
The ending weirded her out, and I don't think it got the reaction intended because she was both laughing at how odd the ending was and maybe tearing up a little bit because
I don't know how accurate a representation this is of Buddhism, but it definitely did bring up a chance to discuss different religions and beliefs.
Still, that ending, I think is supposed to be deep and what not, but
then she started giggling because to her that was so silly, that the cat died of happiness. Then she teared up a little because "dead cat" then she laughed some more and had to go tell her little sister how ridiculous it was.
aprilleigh's review
3.0
Sweet, sad, and beautiful all rolled into one. The behavior of the cat is both on-target and off, depending on what part of the story you're at, which I suspect is deliberate, but found off-putting. It's like the author is trying to imply that the unusual, un-catlike behavior of the cat is what earned her this boon. I think the cat does just fine on its own, thanks.
abomine's review
4.0
#24hourreadathon
*This isn't really a spoiler given the title of this book, but still----
This might have been a five-star read, but I'm just weary of all these old-school middle grade books killing off the beloved animal companion just to make a point, so four stars for now. It's very well-written though, creating a fully realized setting with three dimensional characters in less than 100 pages. That is a pretty impressive feat of writing.
*This isn't really a spoiler given the title of this book, but still----
This might have been a five-star read, but I'm just weary of all these old-school middle grade books killing off the beloved animal companion just to make a point, so four stars for now. It's very well-written though, creating a fully realized setting with three dimensional characters in less than 100 pages. That is a pretty impressive feat of writing.
julieputty's review
4.0
It took me less than an hour to read this and it easily held my attention for that long. A very sweet, gentle fable.
caitlin_bookchats's review
1.0
For some reason when I started reading this I thought it had something to do with The Three Lives of Thomasina an odd film I watched as a child. That was quickly disproved. I failed to connect with this book in any way. The role of the housekeeper and the cat seemed almost exclusively to help the poor artist with no real explanation as to why the artist should get such help. In the end the Cat does get some credit/reward from the artist but the housekeeper seems to exist just to introduce the cat, serve the artist, and sing?
I'm honestly not sure why this won a Newbery. Presumably it's because of the introduction to Buddha/Buddhism that seems the true purpose of the book. That's not actually something I can comment on re: accuracy so I'm not sure?
All that being said, YMMV of course, and it is a quite short book with illustrations and much white space so if you think you'll enjoy it it won't hurt to give it a shot.
I'm honestly not sure why this won a Newbery. Presumably it's because of the introduction to Buddha/Buddhism that seems the true purpose of the book. That's not actually something I can comment on re: accuracy so I'm not sure?
All that being said, YMMV of course, and it is a quite short book with illustrations and much white space so if you think you'll enjoy it it won't hurt to give it a shot.