Third Book Review: Puss Jekkyl Cat Hyde

Greetings Cat Lovers and Happy Fall Bibliophiles!

Today is the second day of October. How did that happen? It seems like September came and went before I knew what happened! And summer seemed to go by so fast, that I had trouble getting the cat books I read over the summer reviewed before the season ended.  I will be writing reviews of the rest of the books that I read to my cats this summer first, before I read any new cat books. A lot has happened with my very own Witty Kitties since I last wrote and so there will be many more personal cat stories to tell along with my book reviews as well.
   Miss Kitty, lately, has made it her mission to not only eat her food, but she has also successfully, until recently, eaten some of Flowers food on too many occasions. Poor Flo! Flowers loves Miss Kitty, but she does not like Miss Kitty eating her food, especially if there is still food in Miss Kitty's bowl. Miss Kitty has a sneakiness about her sometimes, but if you catch her she either hisses or denies it depending on the situation. She has been like that for as long as my family has had her, but under the surface she can be a sweet girl.
   Flowers is a different sort of kitty cat than her sister. Flowers is more of a "scaredy cat" literally, but she has a curious nature as well. She wants to feel safe, but sometimes she wants so badly to peek around a corner and then run off down the hall and hide under a bed or night stand. Flowers only hisses when she feels scared or wants to be left alone, so it is easy to figure out what she wants and does not want. Flowers, lately, has been sweeter than she had been. I think she is trying to make sure she is still the "baby girl" in the family. Which she still technically is, but Buddy, the newest pet and dog in the house is the largest but youngest,  the new baby! He also happens to be the sweetest of them all! Flowers has decided to be sweet like a kitten again to get more attention and who could blame a girl for trying. She will always be loved as well as her mischievous sister, Miss Kitty.

   My kitties remind me so much of the first book I actually read to them this summer, Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde by Joyce Dunbar. The illustrator of the book is Jill Barton. Even though I read Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde this past summer, it would be even more enjoyable reading for October because of Halloween. If you have not guessed already by the title of Joyce Dunbar's book, this is a  simple cat version of  A Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If you are a fan of this classic piece of Scottish literature of the 19th century by Robert Louis Stevenson, you might enjoy Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde. If you are a fan of storybook characters being good and not so good maybe bad at times, then you will enjoy this book as well.  If you are reading this blog of mine, are probably a cat lover or have a fondness for the feline species, which in that case you would love Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde, This book can appeal to so many different kinds of readers. While I recommend this book to many people, I do caution against reading this book to very young children who might be frightened by cats catching mice and eating them or animals in the dark lurking around. If you have a young child, I recommend reading Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde yourself before hand to see if this book might be too scary for sharing with your child. While I love my cats, Miss Kitty and Flowers, I am still not a fan of seeing Miss Kitty eat a mouse or bird or Flowers eating a gecko.
 This book reminds all of us that in each sweet cat is a little bit of darkness and hunter of prey like Mr. Hyde in Robert Louis Stevenson's book. One minute you could be petting your sweet cat and all of a sudden a fly zooms bye and your cat is off to hunt the flying prey in the house. The cat in the book is a tuxedo black and white cat like Flowers, but loves to hunt mice and run around outside in the shadow like Miss Kitty. My favorite lines in Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde are near the end, "Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde... One cat, two names...One wild, one tame. Come the night she changes faces casting off her daytime graces."  Joyce Dunbar's story is written like poetic verses, that switches from a
domestic cat on one page, to a huntress cat on the next page. She has you think sweet things about your own cat and then has you wondering about the wild thing you have roaming your house in disguise at day only to change at night to go prowling for prey. The illustrator does an excellent job at capturing both sides of a house cat in minimal colors. Aside from the changes in muted background colors in illustrations of Puss Jekyll, the cat's green eyes, pink tongue and nose; the illustrations are mainly in black white and grey colors. The choice of a tuxedo cat makes the story easy to understand the difference between dark and light and the difference between the two sides of every cat. I guess you never should judge a book by its cover entirely. Just like you should never judge a cat by its look, because sometimes animals especially cats and some people need to get to know someone before they can become friends.

   I hope you venture out to your local library or bookstore and go on the hunt for Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde by Joyce Dunbar for a very enjoyable book about the true nature of cats.

If you want to know more about this book, you can visit the publisher's website: http://www.franceslincoln.com/childrens/puss-jekyll-cat-hyde 

A Cat Person (& Dog and Bird Person Too!),
Alesia

P.S. The above photo is of Flowers yawning. Even in the sweetest of kitty yawns, we are reminded of those lovely teeth!

Second Cat Book Craft: Acrostic Poem About Miss Kitty Inspired by Chester

Greetings From The Wrangler of Witty Kitties!

       Life with cats is never boring especially when you have cats that are vocal about what they really like and what they are unhappy about. I just so happen to have two very different vocal cats, Miss Kitty and Flowers. Miss Kitty has a persistent, short "meow" that she likes to walk around and say as she gets in your face or under foot when she is unhappy. Flowers on the other hand likes to come and moan long drawn out vocals and then have you follow her to her room so she can tell you what she wants, but if you don't understand she growls under her breath and sometimes hisses at you. Then a little while passes and Flowers is happy again. It is fun to try to imagine what our cats are really thinking of. In Chester, the author Melanie Watt gives us a glimpse of what the Chester the cat is thinking because she makes him co-narrator. 

      In my last post, I mentioned that one of my favorite parts in the story was when Chester wrote an acrostic poem all about himself in the most positive light. He even over-embellished like many tall tale tellers do. Inspired by Chester, I decided to write an acrostic poem about Miss Kitty from Miss Kitty's point of view. I said all good things about Miss Kitty because Miss Kitty would rather not think about anything she has done as being unsavory. If you have never heard of an acrostic poem, it is simply a poem written using each letter of a word. An acrostic poem is one of the easiest kind of poems for children to learn to write, so this activity is appropriate for young children with a little help or older children on their own. Miss Kitty's name was a challenge to write a poem using each letter to describe her because there are two 'I' , 'T', and 'S' letters in her namee. If you don't have a cat, you could write a poem using a dog's name, brother's name, sister's name or friend's name.All you have to do is make sure you put yourself in their shoes when you write the poem. If you right from someone else's point of view that you know it makes the project more humorous.


Here is what you will need to make a similar acrostic poem like Chester's:

• A piece of heavy art paper suitable for painting on (I used watercolor paper for mine.)
• Red acrylic paint 
• White acrylic paint (for if you make a mistake)
• Two separate paper plates for each paint color
• A skinny paintbrush 
• A wide paintbrush  
• A container with water in it for rinsing out paint between paint colors
• A red gel ink pen (I used a Uni-ball Signo because I like how it writes.)
• Optional: Scissors
• Optional: Ruler
• Pencil 
• A piece of paper

First step: Write down a rough draft of your acrostic poem about your cat or whoever you want the poem to be about.

Second Step: Set up your area to paint by laying down newspaper if you are using a non-art designated space such as a kitchen table, make sure you have at least two layers of newspaper. Squirt out your red paint on one paper plate and your white paint on another paper; plate.

Third Step: Write out your poem in red gel ink on the heavy art paper.

Fourth Step: Paint a border to frame in your art space and poem.

Fifth Step: Paint on the uppercase letters with red paint to make them bigger.

Sixth Step: Add accents like doodles or cartoons to add whimsy like Chester did around his poem.

Seventh Step: Let your piece dry.

Eighth Step: Give your acrostic poem to the pet or person whose point of view you wrote the poem.


I hope you enjoy making your Chester inspired poem as much as I did making mine about Miss Kitty.


Miss Kitty Fan Forever,
Alesia

Second Book Review: Chester

Greetings Cat Lovers and Pranksters!

Yesterday, I was thinking about another cat book I read to Miss Kitty, my resident instigator. Don't get me wrong, I love Miss Kitty, but she is not the sweetest pet I have or the sweetest cat. Miss Kitty is the first cat I ever had and she will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason. Since day one, Miss Kitty has complex but loving relationship with her favorite dog of all time, Lenny. He is the only dog she really likes because he cares about her, even though she gets right in his face and complains about not being allowed to go outside when she wants to. Miss Kitty does like to hang out with Lenny, but she has never been a fan of Flowers or Buddy and she does not like my cockatiel, Rocky, who is fan of all of the furry family members. Miss Kitty would rather Rocky, Buddy, and Flowers just did not talk to her or bother her. Miss Kitty is a high maintenance girl who also loves her independence.

 Because of Miss Kitty's personality the title character in the book Chester by Melanie Watt is a story that I can relate to. Kids or adults who ever felt the desire to pretend like another person was not around and wanted the world to pay more attention to them will relate well to Chester and his story. The story starts out with the author Melanie Watt telling a story about a mouse, but every time she tries to get past the introduction Chester interrupts her and changes the story by using his red marker and then he makes himself the main character. There are three parts in the book that are my favorite. One of them is when Chester writes an acrostic poem in a story all about himself and in the poem he makes himself out to be the most important one and the envy of the author and the mouse. The other two parts are when mouse comes backs home with a souvenir....a bulldog! and the other is when the author finally puts Chester is his place by dressing him up in a silly outfit. If you want to know what Chester is dressed in, you will have to read the book. I promise it will make you laugh. I think Chester will appeal to any kid who has a sense of humor, any kid who likes to be a prankster, or any cat lover who loves silly characters who also happened to be cats. I think the book would be really cute to have two people, maybe a parent read the author, Melanie's part and then have a child read the red ink text written by Chester. I am sure a lot of giggling would be had by all readers. If you are reading this with a listener, then you could read the story through and then have the child listener give his or her own idea of what it is that Chester wants to say. Sometimes young non-readers love to tell stories based on pictures and Chester has a lot of pictures that are easy for non-readers to understand without text. So, whether you love a picture book for the illustrations or for the overall package of pictures and text, you would enjoy this book.

 Here is a link to the publisher of Chester where you can find more info about this book and its Author/ Illustrator: Kids Can Press. I have not read them yet, but I recently found out that Chester is the first in a series of books about Chester. They are Chester's Back and Chester's Masterpieces which I am sure will be just as enjoyable as the first book. If I get a chance to read them, I will write a review on each of them.

Miss Kitty Fan Forever,
Alesia

P.S. Above is a photo of Miss Kitty and Lenny in front of the window that Lenny eventually concedes to Miss Kitty.

First Cat Book Craft: Ginger Inspired But Flowers Look-alike Cat Puppet

Hello Cat Lovers and Bibliophiles,  

    Last night, I made a very cute cat puppet. I was very much inspired by a particular illustration in a book titled Ginger by Charlotte Voake. Ginger wakes up and sees the new kitten that his owner, the little girl, has brought home and he wonders, "What just happened?" That illustration is quite a common site at our house. Our two cats, Flowers and Miss Kitty like to sleep hard sometimes and then one of their brother dogs, Lenny or Buddy, start barking at a vehicle, an animal, or person that they find out of place and they wake up all of a sudden with a puzzled look on their face and beady eye or eyes. However, If I go into a room to see one of the kitty girls while they are sleeping, they usually just cover their face with one of their front paws. When they do that, it makes me thinking they are telling me, "I may hear you, I may speak to you, but I am not going to let you interrupt one of my ten daily naps if I can help it, so, as far as I know I can't see you right now." If you have a kid or a cat and have also heard the saying "Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil," then I am sure you could relate to Flowers, Miss Kitty or Ginger, the main character in the story by Charlotte Voake of the same name. Sometimes as adults or older siblings, you just want to play "It" in Hide and Seek and have everyone hide and then you can decide when you will seek the others out when you are ready to socialize. I don't recommend doing this game with your own friends or relatives, but with my cat puppet, you can hide your pretend cat's eyes behind its own movable paw and play a similar game of Hide and Not Seek, which would be so much more fun for all involved.

Here is the supplies you will need:

• A photo of your cat or someone else's cat sleeping with one foot visibly hanging to the side of  the cat's head
• A scanner or copier on which you can increase the size of your cat picture to a workable size (I made my cat picture fit into an 8.5 x 11" piece of paper) and copy paper
• Two sheets of white printer copy paper or tracing paper for each cat puppet you plan to make
• A sheet of colored construction paper or cardstock the color of your cat (I used an 8.5 x 11" sheet of  black paper because Flowers is a tuxedo cat. If you have a two-toned cat, try to pick the base coat's color.)
• A sheet of white card stock
• A light table or a window with bright enough light for tracing your cat's silhouette 
• A pencil or pen in dark ink
•  A box of crayons or whichever crayon colors you need to make your cat puppet's coat color purrfect
• A pair of scissors
• A brass brad, average size (Unless you want to make a tiny puppet, then I suggest you use a smaller scrapbook brad)
• A hole punch or craft screw punch (I prefer to use one that makes a small circle hole. A regular hole punch will work, but I prefer the Martha Stewart screw punch because it makes a consistent hole and it is easier to use. Available online and at most major arts and crafts supply stores) 
• Optional: A cutting mat or heavier piece of stiff cardboard for using with the screw punch.

First Step: You need to print out from your computer or make a copy of a cat photograph on a scanner or copier. You want to make sure the cat in the picture you choose will be easy to trace once it is printed out. If using a copy machine, you might need to make more than a couple copies until you get to the desired size. Try increasing size on copier to 100% or 200%. I chose to make mine fit into an 8.5 x 11" space so that it would be an accessible size for a preschooler to manage with a little adult or older child's help. You can make a black and white copy or color copier. Below is the the photo I chose to use

Second Step: Trace your printed cat picture of desired size using tracing paper and a pencil or dark pen. If you are new to tracing: Place the tracing paper on top of your picture and slowly sketch around the outside of your cat picture. You don't need to add much detail to the silhouette except for where the front legs are and where the head is in relation to the front leg you want to move. Note: I was in the planning stages when I traced my cat, so mine has more detail than you actually need in your sketch.

Third Step: Trace your cat outline onto a piece of white cardstock, so you have a thicker pattern piece to work with and then trace the foot you want to be movable on an empty space on your white cardstock. When tracing the foot draw a little farther past so you have enough "leg" to work with. 

 

Fourth Step: Carefully cut out your cat silhouette outline and foot outline with scissors. You can either cut out the silhouette pattern pieces at the same time you cut out your colored construction paper pieces by layering the colored piece underneath or you can cut out the pattern pieces first and then use them to cut around. Whichever way works best for you is fine. Since I did not need two of the same foot, I cut it off of my colored cat silhouette.

Fifth Step: Color your cat silhouette and cat leg with crayons. Add details to make your cat puppet come alive like the cat in your inspiration photo.

Sixth Step: Place leg on top of where you want it to go on your cat and then punch a whole a fourth of an inch from the top of your leg piece.

Because my cat is black and white, I decided to give you an extra photo of the placement of the foot on my cat puppet.

        

 Step Seven: Insert brad in the hole and secure in place. Note: if you don't want to see the brad color, you can add some glue stick glue to a small piece of tissue paper the color of your cat's fur coat and attach to the brad before securing or have an adult color it with a paint pen of corresponding color.

Step Eight: Enjoy your new cat puppet!  I think mine turned out pretty well when you compare the two: the puppet on the left to the photo of Flowers on the right.

Today, I spent some time with Flowers and I took a few pictures of her and her smaller puppet double. I hope you enjoy them! I may post some more photos on The Witty Kitties Facebook page. If you want to see more cat posts other than the cat book reviews on this blog, please consider following me and the kitties, Flowers and Miss Kitty, there. It's never a dull day with those two.

P.S. The bottom photo blurred because Flowers is a busy quick moving girly cat. I will probably

 try to take another one like that.  Notice the puppet is covering its eye with its movable paw. :)

Lover of Silly Cats,

Alesia

First Cat Book Review: Ginger

Greetings from Me and the Witty Kitties!

             

          I started this blog on the first day of summer and while Miss Kitty, Flowers, and I have read all but one of our library picture books about other feline friends, both fictional and real cat inspired, I have yet to write a review. Life in this cat house has been busy this past week, especially this past weekend. No matter how busy we, the people, are Flowers the cat seems to like to stop and smell her surroundings and appreciate every moment. Flowers has her own room so to speak and she loves for people to join her in her room/guest bedroom/design and art room and hang out and just focus on her or just hang out and not talk to her sometimes when she is fussy. Flowers is very people needy, but very shy to new people. She just really loves me and my mom. Miss Kitty, on the other hand, is very happy to visit with people outside while they are gardening, photographing artwork, flowers and plants, and especially her. 

        On Monday afternoon, Miss Kitty snuck out of the house when my dad left the house and  while my mom and I were coming back from being out of town in Lafayette. When we came home, I spent about an hour looking for Miss Kitty on my side of my short dead end street. I contacted one neighbor after another, knocking on doors and making phone calls, but Miss Kitty was not ready to be found. If she wanted to be found she would have voiced a bunch of short "Meows." Each neighbor had a different story to tell, and the one who I awoke to get permission to search her shed, where Miss Kitty loved to frequent a few months back, later found her coming out from behind her house on the way back from getting her mail. Silly and stubborn, and sometimes sweet Miss Kitty was probably finally ready to eat after a couple hours of exploring! It is funny how books I sometimes read remind me so much of my own life or the real world.

      The first book I am reviewing is Ginger by Charlotte Voake. Ginger is an orange striped cat who lived happily with a little girl until the girl brought home another cat to be Ginger's "friend" The new cat was not just any old or young cat, but a kitten who loved to explore everything that belonged to Ginger. Ginger eventually leaves the house. If you want to know what made Ginger leave or if Ginger comes back you will have to check the book out for yourself. The illustrations are cute and the text is large enough for beginning readers or for reading out loud to a group. I find the story of Ginger to be a book that most kids and cats alike would relate to. Personally, the kitten in the story reminds me of Flowers and the older cat Ginger reminds me of Miss Kitty. However lately, when Miss Kitty can't get what she wants, she goes to explore Flowers food and room. When Flowers appears in front of Miss Kitty, Miss Kitty hisses at Flowers. Cats behaviors sometimes remind me of kids. Any kid who has ever had a new friend, sibling, or younger relative come into his or her house to play or officially stay for what seems like "forever" will relate well to Ginger the older cat. Most people and animals don't like change and older pets sometimes feel jealous of the "new guy or gal" in town coming in and getting a lot of attention. It is always good to give each cat its own space to call their own so change is easy for both pets to adjust to each other over time. Make sure to set aside time to give more attention to the oldie but goodie cat in your life. Remember, your older cat was there and loved you first!

Here is a link to the original publisher of Ginger by Charlotte Voake:
http://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?browse=Title&mode=book&isbn=0763607886&pix=n

In my next post, I will offer a craft or another activity to do in celebration of Ginger and her kitten friend's story.

Cat lover forever,
Alesia

P.S. This is a photo of Flowers and Miss Kitty's Christmas Day Truce. They peacefully co-mingled on the same window sill for the first time last Christmas, because as I mentioned in my first blog post, they gained a new puppy who was at that time in Miss Kitty's backyard. 

Welcome to The Witty Kitties Blog!

Welcome all you cat lovers and bibliophiles!

I just learned that today is the the longest day of the year, in cat time that would mean longer minutes to nap in the day. To all you readers of this blog who have never met me or my cats, my name is Alesia and I have two cats with three eyes total. If you are wondering why one of my cats has two eyes and one cat has one eye, your guess is as good as mine. I honestly don't know.

     Miss Kitty is my oldest and first cat ever and she has one eye. She was born with two eyes and the first time I met her she had two eyes. As the story goes, Miss Kitty came to live at the Anderson house for one week after having a litter of kittens. She was a skinny cat with two eyes and a sweet and spunky personality. One evening, Miss Kitty's first owner came and picked her up from my house. A few months came and went and a cat with one eye appeared in the same spot Miss Kitty was first spotted in. It was Miss Kitty again! My dad tried to walk her back to where we thought her home was, but Miss Kitty had already decided that she wanted to live with us! Nine years ago, Miss Kitty moved into a house with a dog named Lenny, a cockatiel named Rocky, and a bunny named Wesley aka Bun. Today, Miss Kitty lives with Lenny, Rocky, another cat named Flowers, and a new big puppy named Buddy. Miss Kitty loves Lenny, but she is not a fan of the other animals. She loves her human family, so she does a lot of hissing and and meowing to voice most of her disgust with her  other animal family members. Miss Kitty is a sweet one cat family cat living in a two cat family. Her sister is nothing like her in personality.

      Flowers is my younger cat and she has lived at my house since she was six months old. Today she is about 3 and a half years old. Flowers is a very shy, sweet and inquisitive cat. She loves other cats especially Miss Kitty. Flowers is an indoor cat, while Miss Kitty gets to venture outside, so Miss Kitty is the first and only cat Flowers has ever met in person. They both have come a long way to co-habitat somewhat peacefully. At Christmas, they played ring around the Christmas tree. They act like little sister and big sister to each other and each day with them is never a dull moment.

Miss Kitty and Flowers love for me to sing or talk to them, so I decided to read cat books to them this summer and share my opinions on which cat books we liked most, which ones made me laugh, and most of all which ones resemble the personalities of Miss Kitty and Flowers. Each cat book I decide to review will be a picture book appropriate for young preschool to elementary children and cat lovers alike. I might even review a few chapter books about cats, if I find some are not too long. I plan on sharing some crafts and other DIY activities for young children, older children and young at heart cat lovers to do that have a similar theme to each of the cat books. I hope you enjoy this cat filled reading journey as much as me and my sweet furry girls do. Pull up the purrfect seat and have fun! 

Sincerely,

Alesia, Flowers, and Miss Kitty

P.S. The Witty Kitties is a crew of greeting card designs that were inspired by Miss Kitty, the cutest one-eyed cat I know! More information on The Witty Kitties can be found on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheWittyKitties