Won Ton
A Cat Tale Told in Haiku
-
-
4.3 • 4 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, this adoption story, Won Ton, told entirely in haiku, is unforgettable.
Nice place they got here.
Bed. Bowl. Blankie. Just like home!
Or so I've been told.
Visiting hours!
Yawn. I pretend not to care.
Yet -- I sneak a peek.
So begins this beguiling tale of a wary shelter cat and the boy who takes him home.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wardlaw (101 Ways to Bug Your Parents) has a fine understanding of the feline mind, and each 17-syllable poem packs a big impact especially in the first section, which imagines the emotional life of a cat in a shelter. "Visiting hours!/ Yawn. I pretend not to care./ Yet I sneak a peek." Warily, Won Ton considers the boy who is his new owner "Won Ton? How can I/ be soup? Some day, I'll tell you/ my real name. Maybe." In the final pages, boy and cat grow to trust each other, and Won Ton reveals his real name: "Boy, it's time you knew:/ My name is Haiku." Yelchin's (Seven Hungry Babies) sleek cat is all eyes and sharp angles. The Japanese haiku theme (technically, Wardlaw explains in a note, the poems are senryu, focusing on "the foibles of human nature") is carried through with elements and backgrounds lifted from old woodblock prints. The final page, a delicate painting of the boy nuzzling the cat, is a fitting reward for the boy's patience and Won Ton's resilience. A surprisingly powerful story in verse. Ages 4 8.
