The second book in the series is Catwings Return. Eventually the kittens find a better home. When the kittens are old enough to fly the mother sends them away to find a better place to live in the country. Four winged kittens are born to a perfectly ordinary alley cat under a dumpster in the city. The first book in the series is Catwings by Ursula K. These topics are integrated seamlessly into the stories and are part of what make the stories so engaging for the children. The kittens encounter hunger, fatigue, injury, and the danger of discovery by humans. While appropriate in content for even very young children, they are not all sweetness and light.

Other than that fact, though, the books take place in the perfectly ordinary settings of a city and the countryside. The books are fantasies in the sense that they are about four kittens who were born with wings. Even a middle or high school reader could become addicted to this series. I imagine that a young independent reader (1st-3rd grade) would enjoy them as well. These books entranced my 3 and 4 year old children - a boy and a girl. Tabby understood.'Įvery two or three pages, there are beautiful, delicate, detailed illustrations that bring the story to life and help keep little ones engaged in the story.

But when the huge dog chased little Harriet and cornered her behind the garbage can, lunging at her with open, white-toothed jaws, and Harriet with one desperate mew flew straight up into the air and over the dog's staring head and lighted on a rooftop - then Mrs. She washed those silky wings every day, along with chins and paws and tails, and wondered about them now and then, but she worked too hard finding food and bringing up the family to think much about things she didn't understand. Here is a short excerpt from the first book to illustrate: 'So the children's wings were the least of Mrs. I feel like I'm reading a classic - or poetry and yet, somehow, the stories are still accessible to even very young children. Some of my absolute favorite children books use rhythm and rhyme to make the text fun to read and listen to. Often the modifications are necessary, appropriate, and well done. Effort is made to make the prose engaging for children. Vocabulary is simplified, sentences are shorter and less complex. What I mean by that, is that in addition to the content of the book being directed at children, the prose is modified for children as well.

Almost all of them are written for children though. Others are entertaining, beautifully illustrated, sweet, fun, or all of those. Some of them aren't very good, to be honest. Books written for children are a mixed bag.

Catwings ursula k le guin