Way Home - Libby Hathorn, Gregory Rogers

It's night and the dark is filled with strange sounds as Shane makes his way home. On a fence he finds a stray cat that at first growls and spits at him. But Shane talks and strokes the kitten to calmness, and decides to take the 'Spitfire, Kitten Number One,' home with him. No gang of boys, or avenue of dense traffic, or fierce dog can stop Shane carrying his new found friend to the place he calls home. Greg Rogers' sensitive use of charcoal and pastel create Shane and his cat in splendid city-at-night time scenes.

Goodreads.com

 

 

 

I wasn't quite sure what to rate this book, but in the end I think I'd give it a 3.5. The story itself is a solid 3. The story is decent enough, as far as the writing goes, and I do think the book is a good conversation opener for introducing young readers to tough topics such as homelessness. I think it's good that this story gets readers thinking about all the homeless children still in our country today (having previously been on staff at a homeless shelter myself, I can vouch that this is still very much a relevant issue).

 

My trouble with this one is that the storytelling aspect does sway a bit to the simplistic side, making more uninteresting than I was expecting. I think there's enough here to mildly peak a child's curiosity and they may be taken in and entertained by the story of the cat but I can't see it as one a child would request to come back to again and again.

I give an extra 1/2 star for the artwork. It is impressively detailed but at the same time... a wee bit creepy for young children I would say! Darker and stranger than I had anticipated.

 

____

 

* This book was awarded the Library Association Kate Greenaway Medal, a UK literary award given to books with exemplary work in illustrations. The award's namesake, Kate Greenaway, was a 19th century British children's book illustrator herself. The cool thing about this medal, aside from bragging rights of course, is that the recipient gets a gold medal and £500 (currently, roughly around $646 in US currency) worth of books donated to the library of their (the recipient's) choice! :-)