Highway Cats - Hardcover

Janet Taylor Lisle lives in Little Compton, Rhode Island.

David Frankland lives in England.

Grade 3–6—When three tiny kittens are abandoned by the side of a busy highway, they miraculously make their way through the traffic and end up in a patch of scruffy woods abutting a mall, where a passel of feral cats eke out a rough existence. The kittens seem too innocent to survive, but somehow they have a redemptive effect on tough characters like cynical Shredder and the once-beautiful Siamese Khalia Koo. All of the cats notice that these strangers seem a bit "different," but when bulldozers come to turn the patch of land into a highway off-ramp, their magical qualities become apparent. Is it their mystical blue sparkle or their unworldly innocence that inspires the wild cats to work together to scare off the developers? It doesn't matter, because readers will focus on the fascinating, hard-bitten denizens of the dump. A mild, slightly wry sense of humor permeates this tale, from the descriptions of Khalia's business (she sells rat meat to a pet food company that makes a product called "Canned Rodent") to the inane conversations between the development-happy Mayor Blunt and his chief of staff. Illustrations in the form of dramatic silhouettes are sprinkled throughout the book. Recommend this novel to fans of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's "Cat Pack" series (S & S) or other animal adventure books.—Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
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