Barbara Abercrombie

I really enjoyed this picture book. One of the reasons I liked this book was because of the plot. I thought the idea of the story was very clever and well thought-out. The idea of explaining divorce to kids through another medium such as a pet provides a way of showing them a fun story while also subtly showing the basic ideas of divorce. The concept of divorce can be very difficult to comprehend depending on how old the child is, and they may not realize how much emotional damage the show more situation may be having on them. This is a great way to explain that without confronting the child directly.
A second reason I liked this book was because of the characters. This is partially because I am very much in love with cats. I also really enjoyed the characters of the girls. I liked how concerned they got when Charlie didn’t come home after the storm; I liked how determined they were to go house-to-house searching for him. Their characters were very well thought out, as well as thoroughly developed. By the end of the story, it seems that the girls have managed to cope with their home situation as well as Charlie’s.
The big idea that I picked up on in this story is that divorce does not need to be sad all the time. A separated home can mean two homes that you are loved in instead of just one. show less

A family finds a new cat living in the woods, who comes insides and makes himself at home. As they grow to love their new pet, they know he still needs the forest and let him go. To their surprise the children discover that their cat is not going to the woods at all, but instead has another family! This book is a great tool for synthesizing as when you first read it you may think its about a cat, but as you re-read the story and pay attention to details it is a story about children of show more divorce or split families who are so lucky to have more than one family to love them. show less

Questo libro è la prova di come la vita di un uomo, di ogni uomo, è simile a quella di un libro. Tante pagine formano un libro, tanti gioni formano la vita di un uomo. Pagine che si sfogliano al vento del passare dei giorni, giorni che si sfiorano al passare del tempo. Già da quando veniamo al mondo alcune pagine sono scritte: padre, madre, fratelli, sorelle, amici, luoghi, date, giorni. Si tratta soltanto di cominciare a tessere i fili di un racconto che si tende e si distende in maniera show more orizzontale. E non solo. Ogni elemento della pagina può essere visto in maniera verticale, da dentro di ognuno di noi, spettatori ed attori, parlanti o muti, attenti o distratti, lontani e vicini. Tutti sono là, hanno solo bisogno di essere individuati, portati alla luce, descritti, incontrati e sentiti. Ognuno di essi ha qualcosa da dire, da obiettare, segnalare. Fogli di altre vite che scorrono su altri libri e che comunque si incrociano e si intrecciano con i fogli del nostro libro. Scavare, approfondire, inventare, ecco lo scopo di questo libro che ci dice come fare per lasciare una traccia di noi stessi agli altri. Lasciare traccia, sì perchè ogni uomo è un libro da leggere, scrivere, commentare, lasciare agli altri. Scrivete le pagine della vostra vita, leggete le pagine del libro della vita degli altri. Essi leggeranno le vostre. show less

I absolutely loved reading this children’s book due to its language and plot. First, I enjoyed how the author used questioning to help tell the story of Charlie Anderson. The author included questions such as “Where was he?, Why wouldn’t he come out of the woods?, Was he alright?” I like how these questions helped to convey the feelings of the main characters to the reader. Second, I really enjoyed the way the author used the cat’s life to mirror the life of the girls. Just like show more them the cat had two homes and two families that both loved him equally. This book’s surprise ending that displayed the parallels was truly wonderful to read. The main idea of this book is that while divorce can be devastating to a family, having two homes and two families can lead to two times as much love. show less