LCE 6th grade Electronic Book Review Form

1. Student Reviewer’s Name: Em K.
2. Date of review of book: March 28, 2006
3. Complete Book Title: The Cat Who Went to Heaven
4. Author of Book: Elizabeth Coatsworth
5. Year the book was published: 1990
6. Genre: Fiction
7. Student rating of the book (1 the highest, 5 the lowest): 2

8. Main conflict in the book: The conflict of the story is that a cat named Good Fortune wants to be drawn so badly in a picture of Buddha which will make his owner, a poor artist, rich. The reason the Artist cannot draw Good Fortune in the picture is because in Buddhist times, cats were considered demons and were not blessed by Buddha.

9. Setting of the book: (place and time) It takes place in Japan over 100 years ago in a little house which was sparsely furnished.

10. Main Characters and part they play in the book:
(1)The Poor Artist was the master of the house who was painting the picture of Buddha and the
collection of animals that were blessed by Buddha.

(2)Good Fortune was the cat who was determined to be painted in the picture and also supposedly
gave the Artist good luck.

11. Are the characters believable and interesting?
Yes, because people do fast like the Artist and they also pray to the statue of Buddha just as the Artist did.

12. One excellent direct quotation from the book:
“She will have to have a name….She is like new snow, dotted with gold pieces and lacquer; she is like a white flower which butterflies of two kinds have alighted.” The Artist, p. 11

13. Good reasons to read the book: It has a good plot and tells interesting stories about Buddha and how he helped other people and animals. The animals are described very well and thoroughly.

14. Any reasons not to read the book? The book can be boring and not very interesting in some chapters; it moves too slowly.

15. Did you like this book or not? And why…. I liked the book because of its different plot line and of its stories about Buddha.