A Cat Adrift FROM THE PUBLISHER
A new adventure with Teelo the cat
At breakfast time on Cloud Island, Teelo is shocked to discover a rat nibbling at his food bowl. Immediately, he gives chase — all over the house, around the other animals living with him and Victor the Vet, out the door, and up a tree. He corners the rat on a branch that stretches far out over the water. Just as Teelo is about to pounce, however, he hears a loud CCCC-RACK as the branch snaps in two.
Teelo tumbles into the sea. He flails and sputters, and then scrambles onto a log floating by. Teelo shakes the water out of his eyes only to discover that the log is drifting away from Cloud Island, taking him with it.
For a day and a half Teelo weathers life adrift on the log. He discovers new creatures in this strange world: silvery salmon, furry, bright-eyed sea otters, little puffins, and huge gray whales. He spends a terrifying night alone, tossed up and down on waves as a storm passes through.
Rescue finally comes when a wooden sailboat glides alongside Teelo. A young girl with wide brown eyes, named Lilly, and her grandfather pull Teelo onto their boat. After a few days, Teelo gets his sea legs and adjusts to life aboard the sailboat. Despite Grandpa's allergy to cats, Teelo soon becomes a part of the crew.
One day their journey brings Cloud Island into view. To get a better look at his old home, Teelo runs right up to the bow. When a big wave knocks him overboard, Teelo once more finds himself in the ocean. This time he is washed up on the shore of his old home and into the midst of his old friends. Now Lilly and Victor must decide where Teelo really belongs.
Author Biography: Maria Coffey loves totravel, and her stories reflect her exciting experiences. She is the author of Jungle Islands (2000), an adventure travel book for middle readers. A Cat in a Kayak (1998) and A Seal in the Family (1999) are the first two stories featuring Teelo the cat. Maria lives on the west coast of Canada.
Eugenie Fernandes graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Since then, she can lay claim to over 80 books, including Lavender Moon (1997), A Cat in a Kayak (1998), and A Seal in the Family (1999).
FROM THE CRITICS
Heather Hamilton
The illustrations are lively ... The text and pictures fit together very well,and the whole book is very attractive. . .
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 3-In his third adventure, the feline with a penchant for trouble finds himself adrift on a log after chasing a rat onto a precarious branch over the sea. Many waves and a whale or two later, he is rescued by a young girl and her grandfather. The summer passes with Teelo making himself quite at home onboard the sailboat, winning the heart of Lilly and the sneezes of Grandpa. As the fall comes, the old man heads the boat to the city dock, passing Cloud Island. The cat's curiosity leads to another dunk in the sea, and this time his original owner, Victor the Vet, is paddling by in his kayak. When he sees the bond that has formed between Lilly and Teelo, he lets the girl keep the cat as long as they visit often. Crusty, old Grandpa agrees, sneezes and all. "Cliff-hanger" page turns seem a bit contrived, and the story is a little self-conscious. Fernandes's watercolors set the mood of the sea and wind. This book will be fine for libraries that own the others in the series or that are looking for new cat adventures. But for a more spectacular story, stick with Antonia Barber's Mousehole Cat (S & S, 1996).-Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library, CT Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
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