This Story Is Not About a Kitten by Carson Ellis

This Story Is Not About a Kitten Reviews

• 
  Lisa Yee Swope

  I love this immeasurably. I am a huge sucker for a "family you build", "it takes a village" story. And while I don't have a kitten at all, all of my squiggs (guinea pigs) have been rescue pets.
• 
  Rod Brown

  It takes a village to save a stray kitten in this rhyming book inspired by "This Is the House that Jack Built." Cooperation can be cute, especially with the right art giving it life.
  
  (Another project! I'm trying to read all the picture books and graphic novels on the kids section of
  NPR's Books We Love 2022.)
• 
  Kimberly

  Shut up, I am NOT CRYING.
• 
  Jennifer Ingle

  So cute! This would be a great book to use with students of any age to study theme because it lends itself to questions like, “If this book isn’t about a kitten, what is it about? What is the author’s message? And how did the author communicate that message?” Could even go further and prompt students to write their own stories “not about a —-“ to convey a theme of their choice.
• 
  Molly Cluff (Library!)

  A cute cumulative story about community and working together! A bunch of neighbors who have never met band together to help get a kitten out from under a truck (and eventually adopt it and make friends along the way). I found the illustrations really appealing and the characters distinct. The last page was super sweet and cute moral without being too didactic.
• 
  Rick

  A wonderful and charming little tale.
• 
  Jackie "the Librarian"

  A "house that Jack built" kind of cumulative story about a community coming together to find a home for an adorable black and white kitten found under a car. Kindness and diversity and a cute cat, with a happy ending!
• 
  Barbara

  Brimming with community spirit and compassion, this picture book is a 3.5 for me. Despite the title's disclaimer that it isn't about a kitten, it is, of course, but it's much more than that as various individuals rally together to coax the frightened feline from beneath a car and into someone's arms and home. Told as a cumulative story repeating lines and adding others, the text will surely touch readers' hearts as they follow one mother, her daughter, and their dog and the entire neighborhood in this rescue effort. And after Amber, the newly-named cat is brought home, her new human companions welcome their neighbors inside as well. This picture book is a good example of how the members of a small village--or neighborhood--can come together to help one another and do a good deed. Arguably, if they had not been able to work together, Amber might still have been stuck under that car, too fearful to recognize that help had arrived. Because of its strong message about compassion and community spirit, this picture book would be great to share with youngsters. The striking gouache illustrations fill the pages with color and warmth, alternating white pages with those covered completely in artwork and some attractive double-page spreads that capture the importance of saving a life and being willing to lend a helping hand or two when it's needed. Had it not been for Amber, all those neighbors, now on the verge of becoming friends, would most likely have remained strangers.
• 
  Morgan

  Beautiful story about how an abandoned kitten brings a neighborhood together.
• 
  Lynn

  This Story Is Not About A Kitten, but it is about a community that values the life, and quality of life, of one small, abandoned kitten. Told through repetitive rhyming verse and bright, realistic brush strokes, the young reader will be engaged by the diversity and compassion of a group of neighbors who rally around saving a lost kitten and finding it a safe home.
  
  A good read-a-like for fans of Jan Brett's The Mitten and Lucille Colandro's There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Bat, librarians may discover that Randall de Seve's This Story Is Not About A Kitten will make a perfect addition to the Collaborative Summer Library Program's 2023 theme, All Together Now.
• 
  Ellon

  5 stars (It was amazing!)
  
  I loved this. I mean, I went into thinking I would like it because it's (not *wink* *wink*) about a cat but I didn't know I would like it as much as I did. This is one of those books where the text builds up (like the I know an Old Lady... books) except in some parts there are slight changes. There are a few surprises that made me giggle and the end is just a heartwarming message about community and the things that bring us together.
  
  Love Love LOVE!
• 
  Peacegal

  A kitten crouches under a parked car, scared and alone. A neighborhood full of people go about their business, mostly ignoring one another. And then someone stops, looks, and listens...and a neighborhood comes together.
  I loved this book and I loved its message. Helping an animal can bring out the best in people and bring them together. It's far from being something trivial.
• 
  Anna

  At first I really hated the repetition. Then it got better and I no longer hated it. Sweet story that is based on the author's real life! Adorable. The illustrations are alright. When the girl took the kitten from under the car, the illustration of the kitten hissing and fighting made me laugh.
• 
  Cathy

  I won’t tell you what this story is about, but I will tell you that it’ll warm your heart. 🥰
  
  Reminds me of when me, dad, and a whole community attempted to save a kitten in Yosemite. 😊
• 
  Tiffany T

  The story had repetition which I think kids would enjoy. I liked the sense of community of everyone helping each other and working together.
• 
  Lil Old Bookworm

  Looooved this book. Sweet story about community and banding together, and who doesn't love an adorable lost kitty?
• 
  Patricia N. McLaughlin

  A clever adaptation of “This Is the House That Jack Built,” this cumulative story shows how neighbors work together to rescue a kitten and end up forming a community. Simple yet engaging artwork.
• 
  Sarah

  The cute kitten on the cover of this picture book with the contradictory title immediately intrigued me, and from the first few rhythmic lines I was hooked. This sweet story tells readers about a tiny tuxedo kitten found under a car, and how the entire neighborhood comes together to provide it a loving home. I loved that the authors showed the power than an animal has to bring love not just to a home, but to a whole community, and how giving a homeless animal a home can bring neighbors together too. I highly recommend this sweet book about love, community, and the power of giving an animal a home!
• 
  Lauren Stoolfire

  This was beautiful!
• 
  Anne

  Read it. One of those add-on repetition stories with a sweet message and lovely illustrations. It was quietly lovely and gorgeous and made me smile and almost tear up. Loved all the players in the game of coax out the cat.
• 
  Sara

  This is a very cute book with a good message for adults and children alike. The illustrations are delightful and while the story is about a kitten, it isn't about the kitten at all. It's about community, and being a helper. The world needs more books like this.
• 
  Dawn Foster

  Could there be a more perfect picture book for sharing the importance of being kind, creating a community, and the importance of taking a chance?! Please read this book, share this story, love the musical-like cadence of the language & enjoy the conversation that this book inspires!
  
  And remember, it's NOT about a kitten 😉
• 
  Liz

  I'm a sucker for a cat book, every single time. In this cumulative rhythmic story, it's not about the kitten or the neighbors that come out. Instead, it's about everyone working together to rescue, clean, feed, and house a kitten found under a car. A great book for a kindness storytime.
• 
  Capn

  This just reminds me why I prefer secondhand books. A super high Goodreads rating is almost meaningless if the book has been released in the past year or so - it's artificially inflated from all the ARC reviews.
  
  This Story is Not As Good As You'd Expect.
  
  The illustrations are... well, let's just say if I was on the Caldecott committee, things would be different. You know the simplistic, naive look of
  Last Stop on Market Street? Well it's far, far more naive and simplistic and primitive. The cover shows the best art in the book, I think.
  
  I agree with Adele and the other reviewers - the rhyme scheme is off, the meter is off, and it just reads like a book that's meant to appeal to people who are actively trying to embrace hipsterism (I'm not anti-hipster: I'm merely trying to explain the appeal here). This is a "it takes a village to (rescue a kitten)" message, and "isn't it funny how it brought us altogether? We were strangers before!"-community stuff. That's not a new narrative in any picture book since the 1960s... I've seen it many, many times before, and done better (if I think of the closest comparison, I'll add it here - it's such a common theme or at least secondary theme that it barely registers any more) and that's why it's getting a "it's OK - 2 stars" from me.
  
  And it's also why I'm going back to secondhand books that have been in print long enough for the novelty and marketing shine to wear away. This book just killed new releases for me, and has also caused some nagging suspicions to become serious doubt in the impartiality and taste of the current Caldecott committee. I'm sure they're exclusively fed pre-selected-for-profitability books and have blinders on, that's expected, but come on... I've got
  Berry Song to read next, which did win (a 'Medalist', whereas
  This Story Is Not About a Kitten was an Honoree). We'll see if they redeem themselves with that one.
  
  Maybe it should have been a story about a kitten.
• 
  Jan

  The title’s hook effectively draws you in, as a wide-eyed tuxedo kitten gazes out from the dust jacket, with a quizzical tilt to its head. Obviously the kitten has a role to play. But this thoughtful work unfolds slowly. Three wordless pages, done in rich gouache blues, greens, and earth tones, begin the narrative before we even reach the title page; it continues to pique our interest by featuring not just title, author, and illustrator, but a curious collection of shoes. This is a story for those who delight in visual details. A cumulative tale, in the manner of The House That Jack Built, it begins with a girl and her mom out for a walk, when their dog stops to sniff beneath a parked car on their busy street. They hear a Kitten, "hungry and dirty, scared and alone, meowing sadly, needing a home". Neighbors, one-by-one, page-by-page, pitch-in to help rescue the kitty, and find it a home. One holds the dog’s leash so the girl and her mom can peer beneath the car, others bring a box to hold the kitten, offer her milk, and ask who could take her home? After a bit of a struggle to capture the frightened feline, we see a full-page image of the girl blissfully holding her new kitten, with her arms sporting several bandaids. The penultimate scene shows all the neighbors (in their stocking feet) gathered at the home of the girl and her mom, with Amber, the newly named kitten, cradled amidst the cheerful chatter. Text on the opposite page tells us that, "This story is about the stopping and listening, the holding and bringing, the offering and asking and working together it takes, sometimes, to get there." The final two-page spread gives us a street view as night falls. We can see through the living room window that the get-together continues, while snippets of conversation waft above the tree line, including the line, "I can’t believe you two lived next door this entire time and we never met." The cast of characters is diverse, rendered in lively and expressive illustrations reminiscent of folk art. Based on events in the author’s Brooklyn neighborhood, this gentle story of friendship, compassion, and coming together is a welcome balm in these fractious times.
• 
  McKenzie Richardson

  For more bookish thoughts, see my blog:
  Craft-Cycle
  
  A delightfully sweet story of a neighborhood coming together. This is a nesting-style story in which each element builds on the next in the vein of
  The Napping House and
  There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly!.
  
  Lovely illustrations that capture the homey feel of the story. I especially loved all the background details and hints of what was coming next.
  
  Heartwarming and impactful. A wonderful tale of new friends coming together toward a common goal. Even more precious that it is based on a true story and that Amber found a loving home.
• 
  Lacy

  As a Children's Picture book reviewer:
  
  Super duper uber cute! Beautiful illustrations. Diverse. I love that we are meant to believe the book is about saving a tiny kitten. And it is. But the real message is that in a community where everyone pitches in and helps each other, makes home have more than one meaning.
  
  As an adult cat rescuer:
  
  I wish more people would come together like this and help with rescues. Most of us are doing all the things the whole community did by ourselves most of the time. With juggling our own lifes and doing this multiple times every week occasionally. And sometimes with a whole litter at once. The whole thinking the kitten is adorable but when it comes time to take responsibility and provide care, everyone suddenly has excuses, is absolutely spot on. I would definitely buy this as a gift for cat lovers.
  
  
• 
  Moonkiszt

  Featured in a read-to-grandma session.
  
  This warm little tail. . .is front-loaded with all the things this story is NOT about, in a swingy, lyrical cumulative repetition pattern that humans love. Add to this an engaged, yet sombre youngish feline who has taken cover at what apparently is its last homeless shelter (a broken-down car).
  
  Finally coaxed (our reader's first time encountering this word) out from under, the kitten who this story is not about discovers what this story really is about.
  
  And we will not spoil it for you . . . We give this fine story 5 stars!
• 
  Mary

  A rhyming cumulative story that begins with a lost kitten and ends with neighbors who band together and become friends. A heartwarming picture book with a reassuring message that if we all work together, we can make the world a better place and be happier for the effort.
  
  "This story is about the
  stopping
  and listening,
  the holding
  and bringing,
  the offering
  and asking
  and working together
  it takes, sometimes, to get there."