Author: -Elizabeth Coatsworth
Title: -The Cat Who Went to Heaven
Illustrator: -Lynd Ward Jael
Publisher: -Aladdin Paperbacks
Year: -1981
Format: -Hardcover Book
Genre: -Realistic Fiction
Reading Level: -Independent Reader
Interest Level: -Middle School
Topics: -Newberry Award, Cat, Spiritual, Sorrow, Painting, Change.
Summary: - The story starts out with a Japanese Painter who struggles with sorrow every day of his life and does not know how to handle it. He is very sad and full of sorrow until one day his housekeeper brings him home a tiny cat. The painter agrees to keep the cat and calls it Good Fortune. As time goes on, Good Fortune consistently shows remarkable qualities that the painter recognizes. Later the Painter gets a huge job when the temple's priest asks him to paint their Lord Buddha and hang it on the temple. He first gets denied with his painting because he did not acknowledge the vision that Good Fortune gave, but there is a happy ending when the final painting is finished.
Illustrator: -Lynd Ward Jael
Publisher: -Aladdin Paperbacks
Year: -1981
Format: -Hardcover Book
Genre: -Realistic Fiction
Reading Level: -Independent Reader
Interest Level: -Middle School
Topics: -Newberry Award, Cat, Spiritual, Sorrow, Painting, Change.
Summary: - The story starts out with a Japanese Painter who struggles with sorrow every day of his life and does not know how to handle it. He is very sad and full of sorrow until one day his housekeeper brings him home a tiny cat. The painter agrees to keep the cat and calls it Good Fortune. As time goes on, Good Fortune consistently shows remarkable qualities that the painter recognizes. Later the Painter gets a huge job when the temple's priest asks him to paint their Lord Buddha and hang it on the temple. He first gets denied with his painting because he did not acknowledge the vision that Good Fortune gave, but there is a happy ending when the final painting is finished.
Extension Activities:
-This book can be easily associated with Japanese Culture, or the History of Japan. It can go along with a Social Studies lesson plan. Ask the children how well they think this book relates to the culture of history, and what they learned is very important in the Japanese culture?
-Write a page on the differences of the Japanese culture back then and now-a-days.
-Have children make a chart or graph that has to do with each character. Have the chart include different characteristics, qualities, and have them draw conclusions. Activities like this successfully help kids make inferences.
