Review: The wonder of surprises
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 19, 2013
‘I believe that a story can take children to that amazing place where magic can happen.’ So states storyteller and actress and author (and mother!) Ruth Ronen. She has created a little story for children (with the capable collaboration of illustrator Sergio Drummond) that not only is a fine bedtime story but it carries with it insights for children about animals and friendships.Sharon is a happy little girl who loves playing in the yard on beautiful days, hearing her mother singing in the house, and taking her doll for rides in her doll cart. She hears a strange sound, looks all around without finding the source until she looks up in a tree where a tabby cat has climbed and cannot get back down. Sharon’s father, with ladder and broom, rescues the cat – a cat with markings like a lion and thus Sharon names the cat Leo. They become inseparable friends and Sharon feeds and plays and sleeps with Leo, until one morning Leo is gone. Sharon is heartbroken, thinking she has lost her best friend. But Sharon’s mother encourages her to once again play with her doll and doll cart – and there, in the doll cart is Leo who has just had three kittens. Now Leo becomes Lea and Sharon is once again happy caring for her surprise family of kittens – and their mother!Ronen knows how to relate a story so that it appeals to both children and the reading adult. The illustrations reflect the warmth of the story, and the added message of the tale for children is the biology lesson about the source of kittens! Grady Harp, November 13