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New Cat

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Overview

New Cat by Yangsook Choi

New Cat loves everything about living in Mr. Kim's tofu factory, except for one thing: she has seen a mouse in the production room, where Mr. Kim doesn't allow her to go. She knows that one of her jobs is to chase mice, but how can she do this if she can't go where they are?
In this charming picture book, Yangsook Choi tells the story of the night that New Cat follows her instincts rather than Mr. Kim's wishes and gets more than she bargained for.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541313378
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	03/08/1999
Pages:	34
Product dimensions:	7.99(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.09(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Yangsook Choi grew up in Korea and moved to New York to study art. She has written and illustrated many books for young readers. Her books have been acclaimed as "Best of the Best" by the Chicago Public Library, included on the American Library Association Notable Book list, selected by PBS Reading Rainbow, and have received the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award.
For more information, please visit www.yangsookchoi.com

Editorial Reviews

New Cat's job is to keep mice out of Mr. Kim's factory, and luckily for Mr. Kim, it's a job his cat takes seriously. One night, a particularly elusive mouse enters territory strictly off-limits to New Cat-the factory's production room. After a brief ethical debate, New Cat resumes chase, then inadvertently helps contain a fire when she knocks over a bucket. Not a bucket of water, mind you, but something apparently just as good-a bucket of tofu (which, we later learn from tofu manufacturer Mr. Kim, is mostly water). The large sans serif typeface, simple but bold, suits the artwork's rounded shapes and solid black outlines, and Choi's crafty use of white space allows the text to become part of the whole design. The illustrations frequently vary perspective, adding a sense of movement and tension, especially in the dramatic pictures of a large, life-size New Cat making her rounds. Choi keeps her text simple and straightforward, often letting the illustrations provide the telling details of characterization. For instance, the text opens with Mr. Kim arriving at work and saying good morning to New Cat. "'Mi-yao!' New Cat would answer. They were best friends." The picture, however, shows us the actual scene that greets Mr. Kim: New Cat sitting at his desk, directly behind the nameplate reading "President," a small imperious frown on her face. Another illustration, of New Cat as a kitten at an animal shelter, one paw resting on the cage bars, slyly mimics the Asian statues of white cats that bring their owners good luck by inviting in customers and friends. In both business and friendship, Mr. Kim's luck couldn't possibly be better.

Horn Book Magazine

Mr. Kim needed a friend when he first arrived in America from Korea. He adopted a cat from the animal shelter and took her to his factory. People exclaimed, "Oh, you got a new cat!" Mr. Kim decided to name his pet New Cat. Mr. Kim and New Cat became best friends and the cat's job was to keep mice out of Mr. Kim's tofu factory. As the cat guards the factory one night, a mouse bites through an electrical cord and starts a fire. New Cat keeps the fire from spreading and then hides in a vat of tofu. A page of explanation about tofu appears in the back of the book. There are many picture books published to appeal to older children as well as adults, however this story is obviously written for youngsters. The illustrations are well done, but they are somber and the text appears to be a bit obscure for young children. These factors may limit the appeal the story will have for the intended audience of beginning readers.

Children's Literature - Carolyn Mott Ford

K-Gr 3-In this well-crafted tale, New Cat, a watch cat in a Bronx tofu factory, takes her work seriously, facing a moral dilemma and saving the day. Readers will begin to chuckle on the first page as they meet the feline with her heavy-lidded eyes and downturned mouth, seated at the president's desk. Her dilemma is the pesky mouse in the production room, which she is not allowed to enter. On one fateful night, she overcomes caution to enter the inner factory and face down the wily rodent, who is chewing an electrical wire. A fire begins and starts to spread until New Cat overturns a bucket of tofu, halting the progress of the flames until the firemen arrive. The owner's happy discovery of his missing cat inside another bucket of tofu brings events to a satisfying and funny finish. Simple, strong paintings add a comic tone as they amplify the straightforward text. Tawny tones illuminate the somber gray-and-brown factory setting, and the flat, broad animal figures tend to dwarf the humans, who are secondary actors in the cat-and-mouse scenario. Younger children will relish the firefighters and their tangle of hose, and the details and perspectives will amuse readers of all ages. The clarity and economy of text and pictures are beautifully suited to reading aloud.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

School Library Journal

This may be the first appearance in a US picture book of tofu in a starring role, in a charming solo outing from the illustrator of Milly Lee's Nim and the War Effort (1997). Mr. Kim assigns New Cat the job of patrolling his tofu factory, searching for mice. The problem is that New Cat isn't allowed to go into the production room, which makes it the perfect escape route for a shrewd mouse that has taken up residence in the factory. One night, New Cat's feline instinct gets the best of her, and she slips out of the office to track down the mouse. She discovers that the rodent has been chewing the electrical wires, which this night, let off enough sparks to start a fire. By accidentally tipping over a barrel of tofu, New Cat squelches the flames, the mouse takes off in a huff, and Mr. Kim has to rescue his pet from a drenching in soybeans. Choi's tale is unique and refreshing in its setting and subject; in the pictures, she mixes soft colored surfaces with hard black lines and abrupt angles to vivid effect. (Picture book. 5-8) .

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