Book Review: The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats by Constance Corcoran Wilson

The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats
by Constance Corcoran Wilson
Quad City Books (October 22, 2013)
Print and ebook 32 pages, with Illustrations

Adorable!

Between the story in rhyming lines,
Of cats giving chase to white lab rats
And the pictures bright, so full of life,
Of rats in the bath and cats in hats,
The moral comes through vivid and clear:
Judging by rumor rather than facts
Or letting your mind be swayed by fear,
Brings you nothing but heartache and lack.
The best thing by far no matter what
Is to find ways to cooperate.
Be kind and helpful with not a jot
Of selfish meanness or angry strife.
For that would make for a sad, dark life.

OK.  I hope I got that out of my system.  When I read rhyme for any length of time, for awhile after I think in rhyme and have to pause before every line to bring it back to straight prose.

[why do you suppose I'm now trying to type 'crooked nose'?]

But after a few attempts to get started without it I basically gave in to the spirit of rhyme and rhythm, thinking what better way to express my enjoyment, engagement and amazement over this charming children's story featuring the delightful hi-jinks of cute animals, giggles and grins and Holiday Cheer.

Kudos to Constance and McCloskey for their daring venture, quite risky.  A prodigious, incredible feat indeed, creating this Christmas treat bound to keep giving abundant cheer day after day throughout the whole year.

[still can't give it up]


From the Publishers:

The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats is a Seuss-ical tale for young children which builds upon the moral of the first Christmas Cats book to once again teach children a valuable life lesson.

In this second Christmas Cats adventure the lesson to be learned is:  In life, always keep an open mind.  Don’t accept stereotypes as true or let the unfounded opinions of others prevent you from finding out the truth for yourself. We all need to act without prejudice and learn to accept each other as individuals.

The Christmas Cats learn that rats, too, should be judged as individuals. Another message: all of us should try to help others.

Written for the author’s four-year-old granddaughters, Ava and Elise Wilson, with the assistance of talented professional illustrator Gary McCloskey, The Christmas Cats  continue to have adventures while attired in their familiar silly hats from Book One (The Christmas Cats in Silly Hats).

Learning to accept others in a non-judgmental, open-minded fashion is a lesson we all must learn. If children can internalize this behavior while young, learning to help others and to do good works, the world will be a better place.

CONSTANCE WILSON graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in English and Journalism, but she began writing for her hometown (Independence, Iowa) newspaper at the age of 10 and was Editor-in-Chief of her high school newspaper. She continued her education, including a Ferner/Hearst Journalism Scholarship and a Freshman Merit Scholarship at Iowa, and then at Berkeley, WIU, NIU and the University of Chicago. Connie holds a Masters (+30) in English, Journalism and Education. Her career path led to teaching 7th and 8th grade language arts (Silvis, Illinois) and teaching writing at 6 IA/IL colleges or universities, including a class teaching film at Black Hawk Junior College. She then established the second Sylvan Learning Center in the state of Iowa and a Prometric Testing site, in conjunction with ETS of Princeton, NJ. She has taught writing and literature classes at all 6 IA/ILQuad City colleges.

“Constance (aka Connie) was Midwest Writing Center Writer of the Year, Content Producer of the Year for Yahoo, and Illinois Women’s Press Association Silver Feather Award winner (Chicago chapter.) She was named one of the “10 Most Creative Teachers in America” in a TAB Scholastic Books competition. Her Sylvan Learning Center (#3301) in Bettendorf, Iowa, was named Best Business of the Year by the Bettendorf Chamber of Commerce that year and the free reading program for poor kids she established was the largest scholarship program of its kind among a 900-member chain, for which she was personally awarded a Bi-State Literacy Award by then sitting First Lady Barbara Bush in 1993.

Constance lives in East Moline, Illinois with husband Craig and in Chicago, Illinois, where her son, Scott and daughter-in-law Jessica and their four-year-old twins Elise and Ava reside. Her daughter, Stacey, a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, recently returned from a year spent living and working in Australia and now lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee.

Connies Website
Christmas Cats Website

Connie on Twitter
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Connie on Pinterest

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