Whittington | Alan Armstrong | A concatenation of wondrous stories

Whittington | Alan Armstrong | Feels like home

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Whittington

	Whittington Alan Armstrong Yearling, 2006 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Whittington is a roughneck Tom who arrives one day at a barn full of rescued animals and asks for a place there. He spins for the animals?as well as for Ben and Abby, the kids whose grandfather does the rescuing?a yarn about his ancestor, the nameless cat who brought Dick Whittington to the heights of wealth and power in 16th-century England. This is an unforgettable tale about the healing, transcendent power of storytelling, and how learning to read saves one little boy.

A concatenation of wondrous stories

An Honor Book for 2005, "Whittington" is, at the very least, worthy of this placement. (The 2005 Newbery Award Book is "Kira-Kira," a book I have not read and cannot make a comparative judgment.)

"Whittington" is a special book for several reasons (to be outlined here). I find the stories to be a concatenation (series of stories linked together), skilfully linked. But don't trust my opinion. Here is an example: In reference to a story the cat Whittington is narrating:

"One curious thing. While his cat was tied down for the operation, Dick noticed that her rear paws were dark purple, almost black. The sacred cats of Egypt had dark purple paws. [....]
"Then Whittington [the cat narrator] stretched out one of his own rear paws so everyone could see. It was dark purple."

That connection gives me chills, not in fear, but for the exciting story connection. As I looked for a second example, I came across so many delightful passages and several tear-worthy ones that I dropped the idea to share another. Leaving out so many wonderful parts of the story would be unfair to the reader. This is a delightful and marvelous (full of marvels) book! Reader, this book will instruct and entertain and make your life a little more bearable for a short while.

But here are the story lines (which I will share).

1. The germ of the idea for the multiple story lines comes from the old tale of Dick Whittington and his cat. Intertwined is the story of a magical cat who brings riches to his master, as told in a Persian fairy tale.

2. Then there is Dick Whittington himself, who lived during medieval England and actually became lord mayor of London three or four times (number depends on which source you consult). Because he used his wealth to do good for the poor, he became a folk hero.

3. The story of the barnyard animals, each animal's history, and how they formed a little family in this little plot of land.

4. The story of Ben and Abby, brother and sister who work together in tending the animals and becoming part of the family. Yet, Ben has dyslexia and is on the verge of being held back at the end of his current school year. How he learns to read is an integral part of this concatenating story.

5. The story of Bernie, their grandfather, and how he collects animals and children is, of course, the broad framework for all the other stories.

6. However, the most important story is the book itself in hinging all the stories together. After all, how is it that animals talk, form a cross-species family, and tell long stories? This story has to be established and told in such a convincing manner that the reader immediately suspends disbelief (as this adult reader did) to make the story happen in one's mind and heart.

That pretty much gives the big picture. What is required henceforth is readers who put the words together in their brains and feel the story in their hearts to create the magic of Story.

At the conclusion I was so surprised when big, fat tears rolled down my face, not in sadness, but in joy. The tradition basic to and in the story continued. The clues that this would be so are right there in the story, but still took me by surprise.

"Whittington" is a darn good Honor book!

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Feels like home

I enjoyed this story. I grew up with the pleasure of a family life of barnyard friends and I later learned to appreciate history. This story is the marriage of these two passions. I felt transplanted to a simplier time and found escape and pleasure in the book myself. I am not sure the age group marketed will get it but I did.

A favorite!

My daughter is 11 and is an avid reader. This is one of her new favorite books. We have the audio book version as well and she listens to it over and over.

A story of a tom cat

Whittington by Alan Armstrong exemplifies everything that's wrong with the Newbery awards - it's a cute book about a cat, not much more. Don't get me wrong, I did like the story, but there's as much wrong with the story as there is right. It does, however, have all the ingredients of an award winner and stuff much older readers than the intended audience can get nostalgic over.

Whittington is the story of a cat who comes to live in a barnyard full of down-and-out animals with Ben and Abby, a brother and sister who spend their time listening to a tale told by the cat. Ben suffers from dyslexia, which is embarrassing to him. Ben's struggles with dyslexia are mixed with Whittington's story. This is an interesting approach.

However, there are several things wrong with the story. First, the story often reads more like a history and science lesson, with some of the exposition delivered as if from a text book. Second, it's hard to care about the characters as they are shallow and for the most part one dimensional. At times, Ben's struggles seem a footnote or after thought to make the book itself more interesting. As a father of a child with dyslexia, I know it is a serious problem, but it has become an overused plot device in many children's books.

Overall, this one's okay, but I think comparisions to E.B. White are out of line. This is not E.B. White or anything close.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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