It's Like This, Cat

by Emily Cheney Neville and Emil Weiss

Book Overview

"Superb. The best junior novel I've ever read about big-city life." -- The New York Times. After another fight with Pop, 14-year-old Dave storms out of their apartment and nearly gets hit by a car.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064400735
• ISBN13: 9780064400732
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Newbery Award Winner - 1964

Emily Neville's Newbery Medal winning book, It's Like This, Cat, explores the life of a young and curious boy from New York City. Dave Mitchell, age fourteen, is an only child who doesn't seem to get along with his father, who is constantly lecturing his choice of music and friends. To make matters worse, Dave's mother has asthma attacks every time the two boys fight. It seems that the only person Dave can confide in is his neighbor, the crazy cat lady, the neighborhood creep. He calls her Aunt Kate. It is Aunt Kate who introduces Dave to his new best friend, Cat, a stray tomcat whom Aunt Kate picked up off the streets. Cat accompanies Dave everywhere, from adventures to Central Park with Dave's buddy Nick to visiting Dave's older acquaintance, Tom, at Coney Island. It is Cat who introduces Dave to his girl crush, Mary, and the suspected criminal, Tom. Neville uses detailed characterization to tie the story together brilliantly. Each character is convincing, behaving appropriately for his or her age. For example, Dave is unmistakably a city boy, having no problem reading maps of the city, taking the bus to restaurants and coke shops, walking down 42nd street to play ball with the boys, taking a ferry to the zoo in Brooklyn, and riding his bike to visit friends. Dave is also a typical fourteen-year-old boy, craving his independence from his parents, working for money to call his own, seeking daily adventures in the outdoors, and suddenly becoming interested in one of the opposite sex. It is through thoughtful plot and character development that Neville is able to end the story with the reader recognizing what impact that people, and even animals, can have on each other's lives. Apparent personal values to reading It's Like This, Cat are vicarious experience and universality of experience. The reader is able to see life in the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy living in New York City; a boy who lives in a time when a Coke is no more than 15 cents; a boy who will do just about anything to save his cat named Cat. Through carefully chosen words printed on paper, the reader is able to experience a different world. However, the reader, whether male or female, whether 14 or 64, or whether having grown up in the city or country, is able to relate to Dave Mitchell in some way. Like Dave, we all experience gaining and losing friendships, having arguments with our parents, and overall, the adventures of growing up. Neville's ability to express the language of a young boy in relation to that of our own is partly why It's Like This, Cat is deserving of the Newbery Medal.

One of the best books I ever read as a young adult

I have to tell you, I originally had to read this as a school requirement in the late 1970's. Since then this book has left such a positive impression and I consistently recommend this to the young adults who express an interest in reading. I am waiting until my children are a few years older to introduce them to the story. The characters are wonderful and it is easy to relate to them. The story moves well as we follow Dave through a year of his life and experience his maturing, somehow influenced by Cat. You can clearly see why this won the Newbery

A wonderful young person's book

This was one of the first books I remember choosing, myself, to read when I was about 8 years old. It's a very sweet story, but also has a good amount of serious reality to it. I'm from the suburbs of NYC and I loved cats as a child, so this book was a perfect fit. This book is an excellent way to get kids around that age to develop their love of reading -- and their desire to sometimes choose books over video games and TV. If your child likes this, also try "A Cricket in Times Square".

A GREAT New York book

IT'S LIKE THIS CAT is an energetic, enthralling book about Dave growing up in the New York city of the 1960's. The book has a strong energetic prose and is pleasurable to read not just for Dave's coming of age story but for the wonderful sense of place and time that Neville imbues each line with. The chapters with Dave and his girlfriend are especially pleasurable.I love this book and have loved it for many years. A wonderful, wonderful book that speaks to all ages, for all ages!!!