Rating: 
Summary: Critical Reflection of It's Like This, Cat.
Review: Neville, Emily. It's Like This, Cat. Illus. Emily Weiss. New York: Harper and Row. 1963. Markman, Lisa Hermine. "Child's Work Is Child's Play: The Value of George MacDonald's Diamond." Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 24.3 (1999)119-129.Dave is the main character of the book, It's Like This, Cat. He gets a cat from his friend Aunt Kate. He quickly names his new pet "Cat." Throughout the story, Cat helps take a part in Dave's new found relationships with friends and family. Dave and Cat go on new adventures together and meet interesting people. This Newbery Medal winner was really fun to read. The descriptions of the cats are the best that I have seen in a children's book. In, It's Like This, Cat, Neville successfully awakens the reader's visual senses. The description of fine details of cat places the reader inside the book and allows him or her to visualize the vivid images on each page. Neville captures the sleek movements of the cats in this book, from the twitch of the tail to the lazy play of the eyes. For cat lovers, it is a joy to see how these fury friends are captured in their playful and lazy manners. With this description, Neville creates a fascinating world that is easy for the reader to enter. Once inside, the reader is also able to get an up-close view of the special bond between Dave and Cat. Cat soon becomes Dave's best friend and they begin to do everything together. With the visual senses awakened, one can feel that they are seeing inside the story, and capture a deeper meaning than one would have if the images were not so life-like. These life-like images make this novel hard to put down. One thing that I feel that Neville really captures in this book is the real innocence of child's play. In the article, "Child's Work is Child's Play: The Value of George MacDonald's Diamond," Makman states that shortly before the time period that this book was written, "...the idea of an economically worthless but emotionally priceless child emerged. A carefree, labor-free childhood came to be understood as a fundamental right of all children regardless of their social class; simultaneously, childhood became an increasingly popular locus for fantasies about leisure and freedom from adults" (119). The reader gets a sense of this carefree, labor-free child in Neville's work. She depicts Dave as worry free child who is free to explore the world with his favorite toy of all, his cat. Dave does not have to deal with the struggle of a job but instead has supportive parents and a warm home where he is nurtured and loved. The structure and description take the reader on a great adventure with funny surprises, and a happy ending. I would recommend this book to any age reader who is looking to escape life's troubles and enjoy the adventures of a boy and his cat.
Rating:
Summary: Unique, humorous, charming, and honest !
Review: This book isn't perfect, but that's what makes it special. You see, when I saw the stupid title and the stupid picture on the cover, it made me want to read anything but that book. But I ended up reading it anyway, and to my surprise, I loved it! It is simple and realistic, and myself being 13, I could relate to it. The dialogue is that of a teenager, and Dave's (the main character) thoughts were ones I could understand. Finally, a book that isn't set in some far off land with strange and wonderful characters... it's a book about life.
Rating: 
Summary: Newbery Award Winner
Review: This is the Newbery Award winning book I chose to read for a Children's Literature class at West Virginia State College. The adventures of Davey and Cat are wonderful. It teaches several lessons - respect, caring, helping. My five year old daughter enjoyed me reading this aloud to her. This is a great story to read aloud to your children.
Rating:
Summary: Children's Literature
Review: This is the Newbery Award winning book I chose to read for a Children's Literature class at West Virginia State College. The adventures of Davey and Cat are wonderful. This is a great story about the misunderstandings between a father and son. My five year old daughter enjoyed me reading this book aloud to her. I would recommend it to anyone. Try reading a chapter or two a night to your children - they'll love it.
Rating:
Summary: Newbery Award Winner
Review: This is the Newbery Award winning book I chose to read for a Children's Literature class at West Virginia State College. The adventures of Davey and Cat are wonderful. It teaches several lessons - respect, caring, helping. My five year old daughter enjoyed me reading this aloud to her. This is a great story to read aloud to your children.
Rating:
Summary: Children's Literature
Review: This is the Newbery Award winning book I chose to read for a Children's Literature class at West Virginia State College. The adventures of Davey and Cat are wonderful. This is a great story about the misunderstandings between a father and son. My five year old daughter enjoyed me reading this book aloud to her. I would recommend it to anyone. Try reading a chapter or two a night to your children - they'll love it.
Rating: 
Summary: Citified Happy Days
Review: This read is definitely Sixties Lite: loosely-connected events
spanning over a year in the life of a decent, teenage boy. An only child living in NY city with his parents, Dave Mitchell experiences the usual range of emotions and parental meddling,
growing pains and serious choices of his generation. Readers will learn a lot about NY burroughs, transportation, entertainment and culture, as if the entire book were a relaxed
PR attempt. There are many references to literature, time-dated movies, heroes, and pop culture. This kid-and-cat tale is a trip down nostalgia lane for anyone who has lived through that era. The thread that links most of the incidents and characters proves to be a stray cat named Cat--unexpectedly adopted from
cazy Kate, the neighborhood cat lady. Serving as a catalyst for new acquaintances and unusual adventures, Cat plunges Dave into various situations, both dangerous and amusing. Over the meandering months of the school year and summer Dave matures--not only socially--but mentally, as he recognizes adult problems
and gradually appreciates their solutions. Forced to compare parents, he discovers that he does not have it as bad as some kids. The author makes subtle pitches for military enlistment, neutering household pets, and the need for consideration and compromise in resolving famly conflict, especially during the desperate and dramatic teen years. Narrated in the first person, this book reads quickly, with short sentences and plenty of dialogue. If this were on TV, it would be a family sit-com.
Rating:
Summary: Citified Happy Days
Review: This read is definitely Sixties Lite: loosely-connected events
spanning over a year in the life of a decent, teenage boy. An only child living in NY city with his parents, Dave Mitchell experiences the usual range of emotions and parental meddling,
growing pains and serious choices of his generation. Readers will learn a lot about NY burroughs, transportation, entertainment and culture, as if the entire book were a relaxed
PR attempt. There are many references to literature, time-dated movies, heroes, and pop culture. This kid-and-cat tale is a trip down nostalgia lane for anyone who has lived through that era. The thread that links most of the incidents and characters proves to be a stray cat named Cat--unexpectedly adopted from
cazy Kate, the neighborhood cat lady. Serving as a catalyst for new acquaintances and unusual adventures, Cat plunges Dave into various situations, both dangerous and amusing. Over the meandering months of the school year and summer Dave matures--not only socially--but mentally, as he recognizes adult problems
and gradually appreciates their solutions. Forced to compare parents, he discovers that he does not have it as bad as some kids. The author makes subtle pitches for military enlistment, neutering household pets, and the need for consideration and compromise in resolving famly conflict, especially during the desperate and dramatic teen years. Narrated in the first person, this book reads quickly, with short sentences and plenty of dialogue. If this were on TV, it would be a family sit-com.
Rating:
Summary: This book was wonderful and exciting!
Review: This was a most exciting book! I loved It. I would encurage anyone to read it! But especaly all people who like animals and exitment because this book goes from a day at the beech, to an exiting adventure! You will not want to put this book down!
Rating:
Summary: A Book Review of It's Like This, Cat
Review: This was one of the best books I've ever read. It was so good that it was hard to put the book down. The book was about a teenager named Dave. He got a cat from this crazy cat lady. He named the cat, Cat. There are a lot of different events in the story. In one part of the story, Dave got into a fight with one of his friends. After that, they didn't get along very much. Once Cat got lost and Dave found him in a cage in a cellar. He couldn't get Cat out because he didn't have the key for the cage. Then this guy came and picked the lock for him. I think this would be a great book for for ages 10 and up.
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