Sea-cat and Dragon King - Hardcover

Carter, Angela

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 074754882X ISBN 13: 9780747548829

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub., 2000

Synopsis

Sea-Cat lives at the bottom of the sea with his mother, and in order to keep him warm and dry, Mother Cat knits Sea-Cat the most beautiful clothes and soon Sea-Cat comes to the attention of the grim Dragon King. He wants to be as beautiful as Sea-Cat, and soon an inspired compromise is achieved.

About this title

About the Author

Angela Carter died in 1992, but her novels, short story collections, and essays live on, attracting new generations of readers to her often dark, always quirky worldview. Perhaps best known for her adult fiction (Wise Children, Nights at the Circus, Burning Your Boats, Saints and Strangers, among other titles), Carter was also a gifted and prolific essayist. She wrote screenplays, translated the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, and edited collections of folk tales but this is her only book for children.

Eva Tatcheva studied illustration at the Royal College of Art in London. She is the illustrator of Witch Zelda's Birthday Cake: A Wild and Wicked Pop-Up, Pull-The-Tab Book. She lives in London.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-In fanciful and imaginative detail, Carter explains how life under the sea is exactly the same as on land-only different. Because his fur might get soggy and matted, Sea-Cat wears a suit lovingly knitted from the seaweed and jewels that he and his mother have found under the water. When the supremely ugly Dragon King sees the beautifully adorned feline, he kidnaps him to get the garment, but of course it doesn't fit him. Sea-Cat's mother then knits the dragon a suit "truly fit for a Dragon King," replete with the ruby tears he has self-pityingly produced, and now he, too, walks the sea bottom in splendor. While the story is slight, and the triumph of accepting oneself because of beautiful clothes is suspect, it is the friendship the three characters forge that serves the book well. With its big words and turns of phrase (Dragon King in his new suit is "a complete festival in himself alone"), Carter's language will delight children. Tatcheva's squiggly line depiction perfectly suits the author's style, and cat lovers as well as animal-fantasy fans will find much to like in this beginning chapter book.
Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub.
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 074754882X
• ISBN 13: 9780747548829
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 93