Hero Cat

After much searching in winter weather, a homeless cat finds an abandoned building to deliver her kittens. When she leaves her kittens to find some nourishment, she returns to find the building up in flames. As the firefighters work to put out the fire, the mother cat works to save her kittens, walking through the fire to find and carry them out one at a time. Hero Cat is a story about mother love as much as it is a cat story.

Spinelli describes a mother determined to do the best she can for her young and it is not so much that she’s a cat that makes the story amazing to me, but that she goes repeatedly into the burning building to save every single one of her babies. And then I read the final page and discover it’s based on a true show more story with a picture of the burnt cat and her kittens at a shelter. It brought me to tears seeing the photo and reading the biographical note. Stammen’s illustrations are appealing and my daughter fell in love with the cat and the book. So did I.

Ages 4-8. show less

This picture book tells the true story of a mother cat who risked going into a burning building to rescue all her kittens from sure death in the fire. While the true story is amazing, the retelling here is nothing to write home about. Likewise, the soft pastel illustrations are well done but nothing spectacular. I began reading this book to a child while babysitting and his attention was lost after the second page. I don't blame. him.

Eileen Spinelli is one of my favorite children’s authors. Hero cat is the story of a mother cat who entered a burning building five different times to save her kittens. She brought them out one at a time. This simple, short story is based on the news story of a cat who did just that. For this reason she is considered a hero.

I loved this book, but it could be because I'm a sucker for a cute animal story. I thought this was a great story. It's about Mother Cat, who finally finds a place in a warehouse to have her kittens. She gives birth to 5. After a few days, she needs food so she ventures out shortly and then when she returns, she sees there is a fire. She runs into the building 5 times to save each of her 5 kittens, then collapses on the wet grass outside. She wakes up in a soft box with blankets and her kittens. The firefighters have found her and her kittens and brought them to a safe place. Then on the last page is a note from the author who says she wrote this book to honor, Scarlett, a cat in Long Island who had done the same thing. The firefighters show more found them and brought them to a shelter and they were al adopted to loving families. I loved the story and also thought the illustrations were great. They complemented the story well. show less

The true story of a stray cat that saves her five kittens from a burning building. Anyone can appreciate this. Good book.

A mother cat runs into a burning building to save her kittens. She is a hero, and she saves them all!

SOURCE: Pierce College Library ECE section
AGES: all

This book, I used a secondary book to build the text connections for students. This book was about a cat that go scared, while my second book had a scared cat as well. Animals that are very familiar to children, such as cats, make it easier to make text connections with students as well.