Why Some Cats Are Rascals: Book 2 - Softcover

Nowiki, Boszenna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0972732853 ISBN 13: 9780972732857

Publisher: Healthy Life Pr Inc, 2006

Synopsis

The second book of the series Why Some Cats are Rascals begins with Rascal and his feline companions arriving in the Sahara desert at the time of pharaohs a dream place for cats, as their significance and social status rises to that of semi-gods. However Rascal and his gang do not entirely fit the established way of life and the belief systems of ancient Egypt and they have to run back to Catanada to escape being sacrificed at the altar of Egyptian god.

Before they arrive back home to defend it from a gang of thieves, they first have to travel through medieval Europe where they encounter misunderstandings, hatred and witch-hunts in all possible shapes and forms.

Rascal and his gang are guided by the never-ending wisdom of Prehistoric Cat Samuel who teaches them how to use the power of purring and love against the evil forces of the world.

The strongest point of the captivating stories of Rascal is their educational value. The author, Boszenna Nowiki, does a great job in educating children about history, geography, zoology, survival skills, and such positive moral values as friendship, loyalty, love, and trust, while at the same time filling her stories with fast action, magic and adventure, with many unexpected twists and turns. In her books Boszenna Nowiki strives to provide for children and their families the best option to counterbalance the ever-present negativity, hatred and violence that children encounter in their everyday lives, especially on TV and in electronic games.

About this title

About the Author

Boszenna Nowiki lives in Vancouver Canada with her husband – captain of the seas – Pawell, and 8 cats. She started writing at the age of five. Her cats came either from SPCA shelters, wondered over to her house as "homeless cats", or they has been rescued from "some abusive relationships." Boszenna says with a smile: "I love what I do and I do what I love" – that is taking care of her cats and promoting good moral values among children.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Lumby asked, "Where's Sofia?" She came in with us, didn t she?"
"Did she go out or did she wander somewhere inside here while we were resting?" wondered Snow.
Bunny noticed foot prints in the sand leading deeper inside the cave. "Let s follow that trail," he said.
The corridor led them to a sort of chamber with a narrow opening in the ceiling. Sunlight was streaming in from outside the pyramid. On the floor they noticed the scarab on his back.
"He must have fallen down through that opening. He's helpless on his back," said Rascal.
"Let s play football!" shouted Lumby, who wanted to use the scarab for a ball.
"Don t be stupid!" cried Philosopher. "Don't you know the scarab is an ancient Egyptian symbol of rebirth and is sacred? We must treat it with respect." And with that he gently turned the scarab to the proper scarab position, with its legs on the ground, not in the air.
"Wow! That was an adventure!" said the scarab. "Thanks! I was checking this tunnel because it s supposed to direct the light of a certain star at a certain time directly into this chamber. I was checking the angle when I slipped and rolled down into this chamber. You saved my life, friends, but you seem too strange to me. Who are you, and how did you get here?"
"Okay," said Rascal, "we're all cats from Catanada, looking for adventures. But we've just lost one of our friends and we re searching for her."
"Well," said the scarab, "she couldn't get far away from here. There s only one other way apart from where you came in. Let s go there."
Following the scarab, they entered another narrow channel. He moved rather slowly, so Rascal asked him if he d like to ride on his head.
"That would be much appreciated," he said. "I m extremely tired from trying to turn myself over. I d been lying there for at least an hour before you came."
Rascal lowered his tail to the ground to allow the small creature to climb onto his head. The scarab placed himself between Rascal s two orange ears and said, "I'll give you directions."
Rascal raised his tail slowly so as not to stir up the dust and gently moved forward. The other cats followed him and after a few minutes they entered another chamber where they found Sofia.

She was sitting with a strange red cat with black spots.
"Hello, Sofia! Are you okay?" shouted Rascal. "We were afraid you were lost. Who's the stranger?"
"Oh! There you are!" cried Sofia. "When we got inside the cave, I had my eyes and ears full of sand so I just kept going. I didn't know you weren't following me. Then I got lost and this cat found me and led me here. He's very friendly and he's teaching me a new game."
"Okay! I want to play, too," shouted Lumby, and did a somersault.
"Please don't dance, Lumby," said Dandy, "there's too much dust here already. You'll only make another sand storm."
Rascal put the scarab down because he wanted to learn a new game too. So everyone sat around the red cat to learn it and didn't notice, meanwhile, that another red cat with black spots took the scarab and pushed him into the corridor and put him on his back so he couldn't move.
The first spotted cat said, "This is a kind of checkers. You choose a pit from which to sow the seeds." The second spotted cat added, "Each seed in the pit is then placed, one at a time, into the succeeding pits, moving counter-clockwise. The winner is the player with the most seeds. When you lose three seeds you're out of and, oh well, out of the game. Let s play."

The game began. Lumby, who was always ready to play new games, was very excited, but he soon made a few wrong moves and lost.
"You're out," said the first spotted cat.
The next to lose was Dandy. "You're out," said the second spotted cat.
Then they noticed that Lumby wasn't there and another spotted cat appeared in his place. "Hi, I came to join the game," said the new arrival.
The cats were excited and absorbed in the game, but they were careless and were losing to the more skilled and experienced spotted cats one by one. They were so hypnotized that they didn't notice that each one who lost the game disappeared and was replaced with a spotted cat.
When there were only Rascal and his brother left, Philosopher paused and said, "Look brother, when Lumby disappeared it was nothing to be concerned about, I thought he was playing somewhere. When Dandy and the others disappeared, I thought we ought to look for them and now everyone's disappeared and no one's come back. It s only you and me left with so many spotted cats. They I must think about this."
With that, Philosopher s ears began to move, his left ear to the front, his right ear to the back, the sign that told Rascal that he was deep in thought working on a solution to the problem. One of the spotted cats took advantage of the distraction, moved his seeds and shouted, "Hey, grey one with white socks, you lose! You're out!"
At that very moment Philosopher vanished.
"Hey, what s going on?" exclaimed Rascal, with strong sweeps of his tail. He swept all the seeds that were left out of the pits. "Now you're all losers and I m the winner. Where are my friends?"
The first spotted cat, who had taught Sofia, said, "Well, if you want to see them you must also get out."
"I want to see them, but I want to see them here,' said Rascal. "I want them back right now. Where are they?"
"Ah," he said, "don't worry, you'll join them sooner or later. I must tell you, no one gets out of here alive! Ever!"

Edition details

• Publisher: Healthy Life Pr Inc
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0972732853
• ISBN 13: 9780972732857
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224