Thursday, October 27, 2011

Orbit the Angel Cat



Sam the cat is very sick. He is too sick to sit with his siblings (Betty, John and Scott) by the window to see the snow. The siblings see another cat approach from a distance. Next thing they know, the new cat is in the house, cuddled up with Sam. The other cats want to know who the intruder is and why he is there. He says, “My name is Orbit and I’m here because Sam needs me…to help him remember love.” Spoiler alert: Sam passes away. But, he goes peacefully while remembering all the good things in his life.

Orbit the Angel Cat, written by Michael Joyce and Linda Max Collins is a metaphorical story about dealing with the loss of a loved one. In this instance, a cat family must deal with the loss of their sick sibling. Orbit, an angel cat, comes to Sam (the sick cat) to comfort him and “help him remember love.”

The illustrations by Linda Max Collins are simple and child-like and they work well with the text.

This verse, from Hebrews 13:2 is given as a reference at the end of the book: “Be not afraid to have strangers in your house. For some thereby have entertained angels unawares.”

What I Like: I like this different approach to talking about a difficult subject. Children should be able to identify with the characters

What I Dislike: I like the illustrations and the text, but I thought the layout was a bit boring. All of the illustrations are on the right-hand side of each two-page spread with the text on the left. There is no variation of this layout. It’s not a big issue, I just thought I’d point that out.

Overall Rating: Very good.

Age Appeal: No age group is given but I would say 4-8 would be the right age group.

Publisher Info: ISBN: 9781461055891; Paperback, $12.00

Buy now at Amazon.com $8.64!



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