The Cat Who Wanted to Go Home (Picture book)

Product Description
One day, Suzy found a huge basket in a field. She climbed in, settled in the shade under a stool, and was soon fast asleep. When she woke up, the basket was in the sky! Suzy, the little French cat, has found herself in a hot-air balloon on its way to England! This is the start of Suzy’s big adventure as she tries to make her way back home to France. In this beautifully illustrated picture book, Jill Tomlinson’s heartwarming story has been carefully edited to retain all her gently humorous style, while Paul Howard’s lovely pastel images perfectly capture the spirit of this absorbing tale.

Publishers Weekly
A septet of Jill Tomlinson’s tales from the 1960s and ’70s appear with a generous sprinkling of half-tone illustrations by Paul Howard, sure to attract newly independent readers. The tale of a frightened owlet who, with the help of others, learns to appreciate the night-The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark (this 1968 text was also adapted to a picture-book format with full-color artwork by Howard in 2001, from Candlewick)-appears in its unabridged version, along with a half-dozen other titles in a similar format: The Aardvark Who Wasn’t Sure; The Cat Who Wanted to Go Home; The Gorilla Who Wanted to Grow Up; The Hen Who Wouldn’t Give Up; The Otter Who Wanted to Know; The Penguin Who Wanted to Learn. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Lisa Gangemi KroppCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. – School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2
Suzy lives in France with a fisherman and his four sons. One day, she climbs into a basket she spies in the field and settles in for a nap, only to wake up and find herself up in a hot-air balloon on her way to England. The cheery illustrations are full of detail, yet also come across as soft and comforting, with their pastel hues and softened lines that make Suzy a particularly endearing tabby. The rest of the story shows her various attempts to make it back home, even though the kindly old woman who takes her in is very nice and has a talking parrot. When surfing, waterskiing, and swimming fail to get her home, she finally winds up on a car ferry. As the crew and passengers attempt to capture her, she jumps overboard, where she is rescued-by four boys in a boat with their fisherman father. Suzy has found her beloved family, leaving Auntie Jo to wonder exactly where Biff the parrot learned to say ‘au revoir .’ A charming tale for both listening to and reading independently.

Kirkus Reviews
Suzy, a little striped cat, lives with a fisherman and his four sons in France. One day, she unknowingly falls asleep in a basket that’s part of a hot-air balloon and ends up in England. The crux of the story is her effort to return to ‘Chez-moi.’ Even though an old lady takes her in, Suzy grabs every opportunity (she thinks) to find a way home: She rides a surfboard, swims beside a channel swimmer, gets stranded on a submarine and pussyfoots aboard a ferry boat to France. When she climbs the boat’s mast, she sees a French fishing boat ahead-with her family aboard! Home at last. Brush strokes on the canvas background of the soft-edged illustrations add texture to the gentle, sweet quality, while the action scenes humorously depict Suzy’s encounters, but overall they lack the buoyancy of Mary Calhoun’s Hot-Air Henry (1981). (Picture book. 4-7)