The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale

by Carmen Agra Deedy, Randall Wright, Barry Moser (Illustrator)

Overview

In this playful homage to Charles Dickens, Skilley, an alley cat with an embarrassing secret, longs to escape his street-cat life.

Hoping to trade London's damp alleyways for the warmth of ye olde Cheshire Cheese Inn, Skilley strikes a bargain with Pip, an erudite mouse. Skilley will protect the mice who live at the inn, and in turn, the mice will provide Skilley with the thing he desires most.

But when Skilley and Pip are drawn into a crisis of monumental proportions, their new friendship is pushed to its limits. The escalating crisis threatens the peace not only of the Cheshire Cheese Inn but the entire British Monarchy!

New York Times best-selling author Carmen Agra Deedy and coauthor Randall Wright collaborate on this compelling story set in Victorian England. With the artwork of award-winning illustrator Barry Moser, The Cheshire Cheese Cat is filled with charming characters and strong themes of friendship and loyalty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561458103
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	09/02/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,113,131
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Carmen Agra Deedy is a New York Times best-selling author and renowned storyteller. Her books have received numerous awards and honors. Carmen has performed in many prestigious venues, but children are her favorite audience. Born in Havana, Cuba, she came to the United States as a refugee and like most immigrants sees the world from multiple perspectives. She lives in Georgia.

Randall Wright loves tales by the fireside, mouthwatering feasts, and musty old books. The author of several middle grade novels, he currently lives with his wife and children in a small castle in the kingdom of Utah. To his regret, his castle has no moat or towers, or even stone walls, as they would tend to annoy his neighbors.

Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Moser studied at Auburn University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and did post-graduate work at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is the acclaimed illustrator of more than two hundred books for adults and children, including In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton, which was a Newbery Honor Book. He is also a printer, painter, printmaker, designer, author, essayist, and teacher. He lives in Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

★ "Moser's graphite illustrations are realistic and wonderfully emotive, especially in combination with the novel's fresh dialogue, typographical flights of fancy, and wordplay. Expertly realized characters and effervescent storytelling make this story of unlikely friendship, royal ravens, and 'the finest cheese in London' a delight." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

★ "The fast-moving plot is a masterwork of intricate detail that will keep readers enthralled, and the characters are well-rounded and believable. Language is a highlight of the novel; words both elegant and colorful fill the pages. . . Combined with Moser's precise pencil sketches of personality-filled characters, the book is a success in every way. It should be a first purchase for libraries interested in bringing young readers to the marvels of Dickens via the back – or, should I say tavern – door." —School Library Journal, Starred Review

★ "Readers with great expectations will find them fully satisfied by this tongue-in-cheek romp through a historic public House that is the very opposite of Bleak." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Whether you come to this book as an English major or as a cat lover, you will agree the first line of 'The Cheshire Cheese Cat' is pure genius. . . This joint effort from Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright, illustrated charmingly by Barry Moser, might be best appreciated as a read-aloud. It is sure to spark dialogue about loyalty and bullying. . . and Anglophiles young and old will appreciate the tale of Maldwyn, an injured raven hiding out at the Cheese and plotting his return to this rightful role guarding the Tower of London. . . " —The New York Times

From the Publisher

He was the best of toms. He was the worst of toms.” So opens Deedy (14 Cows for America) and Wright’s (The Silver Penny) spry hybrid of historical fiction and animal story, set at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a real-life pub “famed as a haunt for London writers.” The line refers to Skilley, the mouser at the tavern, where Charles Dickens is struggling to find a lead-in to his new novel. Snippets from Dickens’s journal reveal his suspicions that something’s askew between Skilley and the pub’s substantial mice population. He’s right: Skilley, who prefers eating cheese to mice, has agreed not to harm them if they bring him cheese from the storeroom. Pip, an intellectually minded mouse, teaches himself to write using his tail, a skill that comes in handy at multiple points during the novel. Moser’s graphite illustrations are realistic and wonderfully emotive, especially in combination with the novel’s fresh dialogue, typographical flights of fancy, and wordplay. Expertly realized characters and effervescent storytelling make this story of unlikely friendship, royal ravens, and “the finest cheese in London” a delight. Ages 8–12. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 5–8—The vagaries of tavern life in 19th-century London come alive in this delightful tale. Skilley, a street cat with a secret (he eats cheese!), finds a home at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, where he pretends to be a mouser and gets the attention of Charles Dickens, a frequent customer. Befriended by Pip, a precocious mouse who can read and write, Skilley tries to protect his rodent pals and Maldwyn, an injured royal raven hiding in the garret, from Pinch, a ginger alley cat who's out for every tasty morsel he can get. There are cat-and-mouse battles aplenty. Several subplots are happily resolved: the cook reveals that the mice are her official cheese-tasters; Queen Victoria herself comes to rescue Maldwyn; Mr. Dickens finally finds an opening sentence for his new novel, and more. The fast-moving plot is a masterwork of intricate detail that will keep readers enthralled, and the characters are well-rounded and believable. Language is a highlight of the novel; words both elegant and colorful fill the pages: "alacrity," "scrivener," "thieving moggy." And then there are the Dickensian references: "artful dodging of Hansom cabs," Dickens saying he has "great expectations." His amusing diary entries, revealing both his writing difficulties and his thoughts about Skilley, and the occasionally fanciful page layouts add to the humor. Combined with Moser's precise pencil sketches of personality-filled characters, the book is a success in every way. It should be a first purchase for libraries interested in bringing young readers to the marvels of Dickens via the back-or, should I say tavern-door.—Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, The Naples Players, FL

School Library Journal

"He was the best of toms. He was the worst of toms." And for all his harsh early life and unnatural dietary preferences, ragged London alley cat Skilley gets to look at a queen, too.

Landing a gig as mouser for the chophouse and writers' hangout Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a lifelong fantasy come true for both Skilley and the inn's swarm of resident mice—because unlike his feline rivals, Skilley adores cheese and has no taste for mice at all. In fact it isn't long before he and Pip, a mouse of parts who has learned to read and write, have become great friends. Deedy and Wright take this premise and run with it, tucking in appearances from Dickens, Thackeray and other writers of the time. Cat and mice unite to face such challenges as the arrival of a cruel new cat named Oliver ("Well, this was an unwelcome twist"), a mysterious cheese thief and, climactically, a wise but injured old raven that is the subject of a country-wide search that culminates in a visit to the inn by Queen Victoria Herself. Moser contributes splendid black-and-white illustrations that manage to be both realistic and funny, recalling Robert Lawson while retaining his own style.

Readers with great expectations will find them fully satisfied by this tongue-in-cheek romp through a historic public House that is the very opposite of Bleak. (Animal fantasy. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews