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My father is always talking about how a dog can be very educational for a boy. This is one reason I got a cat. Dave Mitchell and his father yell at each other a lot, and whenever the fighting starts, Dave's mother gets an asthma attack. That's when Dave storms out of the house. Then Dave meets Tom, a strange boy who helps him rescue Cat. It isn't long before Cat introduces Dave to Mary, a wonderful girl from Coney Island. Slowly Dave comes to see the complexities in people's lives and to understand himself and his family a little better.
It's Like This, Cat ANNOTATION "The thoughts, feelings, and activities of an adolescent boy in contemporary New York City, perceptively revealed in a skillfully written narrative."--Booklist.--The New York Times. 1964 Newbery Medal; ALA Notable Children's Books 1940-1970.
FROM THE PUBLISHER Dave Mitchell is fourteen and growing up in the midst of the variety and excitement of New York City. In this quiet, reflective, and humorous story of a boy's journey toward adulthood, Emily Neville captures the flavor of one kind of New York boyhood-the sights and sounds of Gramercy Park, Coney Island, the Fulton Fish Market, the Bronx Zoo, the stickball games played in city streets, the fascinating mixture of nationalities and eccentrics that give the huge metropolis so much of its flavor and excitement. But most of all the author tells a realistic tale of Dave's affection for a stray tomcat, his comradeship with a troubled nineteen-year-old boy, his first shy friendship with a girl, and his growing understanding of his father as a human being and not just a parent. Emil Weiss's lively drawings capture the mood and setting of the story to perfection.
FROM THE CRITICS Chicago Tribune A fine, honest, flavorful tale. .
Saturday Review Different, humorous, with a touch of the vernacular, and a great feeling for the city and its many peoples. .
New York Times This is superb — the best junior novel I've ever read about big-city life. .
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