Totally Disgusting! - Hardcover

Wallace, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823408736 ISBN 13: 9780823408733

Publisher: Holiday House, 1991

Synopsis

Whoever heard of a name like Mewkiss! Ugh! How can a "Mewkiss" be brave? Why couldn't my Jessica call me "fearless" or "Ratkiller"? And why do I have to share a tub with a barky puppy named Barkus? Actually...its nice to have somebody to cuddle up to. My real problem is rats. Two scary rats in the storm cellar are plotting to attack Jessica! What's a kitten to do? How do I find the courage to protect the person I love?

About this title

About the Author

Award-winning author Bill Wallace (1947 – 2012) started writing after a tough year of teaching fourth graders. As he says, "Trying to read to a class of 25 kids who aren't listening is downright MISERABLE. Finally, students asked me to tell stories about when I was growing up. I soon ran out of these, so they decided I should make up new stories. I became a writer so I could survive my first year as a teacher. The class loved the stories I wrote for them and persuaded me to get somebody to make us a real book." He lived in Oklahoma with his wife Carol, with whom he collaborated on several books.

Leslie Morril has illustrated children's book for all ages. He lives in Madison, Connecticut.

Reviews

Grade 1-4-- The title refers to the narrator kitten's attitude toward his name, "Mewkiss," given to him by Jessica, for whom he was a birthday present. Mewkiss feels the silly name dooms him to a life of weakness and helplessness against the vicious rats who have already killed one of his sisters, and who are planning to bite Jessica. When an old cat tells Mewkiss that his name really is "Mukiz," the name of a famous warrior cat in ancient Egypt, the kitten courageously fights off and kills a rat. The plot is as slight as the characterizations in this story in which all animals speak and understand English and imitate human behavior--they laugh, go "to the bathroom," and need reassurance about their specialness. This fantasy lacks the subtlety, the playful satirical humor, and the rich characterization of A. N. Wilson's Stray (Orchard, 1989), which attempts to depict the world from the animal's point of view. It's an easy, readable chapter book on a subject that will appeal to some, but the moralizing is too obvious to be effective, the humans too lightly sketched, and the central four-legged creatures reminiscent of cartoon characters. --Yvonne Frey, Peoria Public Schools, IL
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Holiday House
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0823408736
• ISBN 13: 9780823408733
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Morrill Leslie
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112