1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Gág, Wanda. 1928. MILLIONS OF CATS. New York, NY: Puffin Books. ISBN 0-14-240708-9
2. PLOT SUMMARY:
An elderly couple becomes lonely, and the wife asks her husband for a cat. He kindly goes in search of a pet. He soon discovers not just one cat, but a whole hill covered with cats- “millions and billions and trillions of cats.” When the cats all follow the husband home, the wife is overwhelmed and points out the obvious problem of feeding so many cats. So the couple decides to let the cats decide which one they will keep. The old man asks them which cat is the prettiest, and this starts a quarrel that ends horrifically with almost all of the cats eating each other up. In the end, the couple finds one little cat left hiding in the grass, who escaped the violence because it thought itself unworthy of being considered pretty. They happily take the little cat home as their pet, to love and care for in their home.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
This book was one of only two on the “classics” list that I had never read. It is different from the children’s books of today. The mood changes quite drastically; at the beginning, it seems like a sweet tale about an adoring couple who loves cats, but then it turns into a savage scene of feline annihilation! Including this kind of violence in a children’s story denotes a different age and culture than the one we live in now.
The story line is simple, and it presents sweet undertones between the couple and eventually with their leftover cat. The illustrations and even the font of the words remind me of nursery rhymes and fables. It is like a fable in that it teaches a lesson about the dangers of vanity and jealousy.
4. REVIEWS
Newbery Honor, 1929
5. CONNECTIONS
*According to many, Millions of Cats is the oldest American picture book.
*https://millionsofcats.weebly.com/
*This book pairs well with a non-fiction book, Curious Cats by Katie Kawa ISBN 978-1-48245-356-0. Study guides are available for compare/contrast using the two books.
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