Synopsis
Michael's cat, Mitch, who has been his friend forever, is gravely ill, and Michael, at first angry and frightened, learns to comfort his dying friend and to accept Mitch's impending death.
Reviews
PreSchool-Grade 4?Michael, who is about 10, describes the drawn-out death of his much-loved marmalade cat. This story first appeared in Cricket in October, 1993, with a female narrator and titled "Maggie and Mitch." The focus is on love and loss and accepting the inevitable. There is no replacement pet as in Judith Greenberg and Helen Carey's Sunny (Watts, 1986; o.p.), which Goodbye Mitch otherwise most closely resembles. Both Judith Viorst's The Tenth Good Thing About Barney (Atheneum, 1971) and Miriam Cohen's Jim's Dog Muffins (Greenwillow, 1984) concentrate on the grieving process without building readers' acquaintance with the animal, which is what makes Michael's loss readers' own. The full-color drawings are cheerful and attractive, showing a feline that looks thin but alert and healthy, but the pages are likely to have tear stains on them before the book goes through many circulations. The story may make too strong a statement for some children, and it may arouse fears for the health of pets that skip a meal now and then, but for those who want a good cry, the image of Mitch dying in Michael's arms is hard to top.?Margaret Chatham, formerly at Smithtown Library, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ages 4^-8. This book gently traces the decline and death of a boy's pet cat. Michael has had Mitch as a friend all his life. When Mitch stops eating for several days, Michael thinks that he has just become a fussy eater. But a trip to the vet reveals that Mitch has a tumor, and over the next several weeks, he grows increasingly frail. Michael has many feelings during this period: he doesn't understand why his mother doesn't help; he's happy when Mitch seems to rally; and he grieves when his pet continues to fail. When Mitch finally dies in his arms, Michael cries, but he feels good remembering his pet later on. The straightforward, low-key text presents the different stages that death can take as well as the variety of feelings a child can experience. The pencil-and-watercolor illustrations are simple and warm. Parents trying to help a child cope with a dying pet will find this a useful point of departure. Leone McDermott
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