It’s Like This, Cat is a Newbery Honor Award winning book, written by Emily Cheney Neville. It’s main characters are Dave, his family, Aunt Kate, Cat, and his many friends, including Tom Ransom, Nick, Hilda, Ben Alstein, Butch, and Mary. The story starts out when Dave goes to Aunt Kate’s house after having another argument with his father, to adopt a stray cat, and name it Cat. A few weeks later, Butch, the apartment janitor, found Cat in the cellar, and when Dave gets there, a 18 year old boy unlocks it for him. Later he finds out his name is Tom Ransom and they become really close and explore the city together. He then introduces the reader to his friend from childhood, Nick and they get in a fight. Then on a visit to Coney Island, Tom introduces Dave to his girlfriend, Hilda. Hilda tells Dave about Tom’s family and money problems, and Dave gets his father to help him financially. Dave then meets Mary at a record store and they go on many dates together. Now Dave is going to high school where he meets a new friend, Ben Alstein, and they explore the city together on weekends and holidays. And one night, Tom comes over and thanks everyone for helping him and announces that he and Hilda are getting married. Then they all give a toast to Cat because he had made the summer enjoyable for everyone, even for the people that weren’t there at the moment.
The story, It’s Like This, Cat has many strong themes to it. The first theme can be found in the question, “Why is Cat a part of the title, even when he wasn’t part of every chapter?”. Well in the beginning, Dave wanted a cat because his father wanted a dog. Dave never agreed with his father and that's why he always wanted to rebel against him. And keeping Cat helped Dave notice something important in the end, which was how to cooperate with his father. And in the end they fought less, and cooperated with each other more. Another reason why Cat is part of the title is because most of the adventures are caused by Cat doing something reckless. For example, when Dave’s family was going on vacation, Cat jumped out the window and Dave chased him across the parkway, but now his family had left so he had to go stay at Aunt Kate, where his parents would be waiting. Cat also brought people together, for example, when Dave took Cat to the beach, Mary started stroking Cat and that's how Dave and Mary met each other for the first time. So although Cat wasn't part of most chapters, he was the one that helped every event in every chapter happen. In the end, Dave even said, “Here's to Cat! Tom wouldn't even be standing here if it wasn't for Cat.”, which is proof that Cat was a very important part of the story.
More themes can be found in a different question too, “"It’s Like This, Cat" what?”. What is Dave trying to tell Cat throughout the story? Normal house cats enjoy going outside sometimes, and they are often found staring out the window. Cats also like to be independent, they like doing things themselves. But there is a conflict, cats want to be independent, and they want to go outside. And here is the conflict, if cats were to be independent outside, they would easily get hurt. For example, in the story it says that, one night Cat was outside and Butch found him with a 1 inch deep gash from his right shoulder down his right leg, and he was having trouble breathing. Anybody can see Cat would have never gone better without a vet’s assistance, the vet even said that if Dave didn’t get him neutered, he would only live for 1-2 years. So if we were to predict what Dave was trying to teach Cat throughout the story, the best guess would be survival, and how to live the life of a house cat, because before he was a wild, stray cat.
One of the main themes of this book is growing up, and maturing. This is one of the most important themes as it is directly talked about throughout the end of the story. Dave is going from middle school to high school over summer break and he is becoming more mature. He has more compassion for others as when Hilda told Dave about Tom’s tragic back story, when he got him he asked his dad to help Tom showing compassion for him. He learned to see from another's point of view , and shows empathy for them too. He also learns how to accept the loss of others after a small kitten was killed under the feet of a careless photographer. The most important lesson Dave learns as he grows up is how to cooperate with his father, he learns to accept him, in the end they agree with each other. They understand each other more too. Growing up and maturing changed the original storyline from the beginning, because in the end, Dave shows more compassion for others and learns how to accept his dad.
The story of Dave and Cat was awarded the Newbery Honor Award in 1964. It’s written by Emily Chenney Neville, and is about a 14 year old boy in NYC and his tomcat, whom he names Cat. It starts out when his Aunt Kate lets him adopt Cat, and because of Cat, Dave meets a lot of new people over the summer and goes on many adventures. Cat teaches Dave something throughout the story and Dave teaches Cat something too. Cat teaches Dave how important family is and how to cooperate with his father. Cat also helps Dave meet new friends too. Dave teaches Cat the life of a house cat. You see, Cat originally was a stray Kate found under a car, strays usually get into many fights as they are not neutered. And throughout the book, Cat learns how to be more calm, and more like the normal house cat we know and not like a wild one. One of the main themes is growing up Dave learns to be compassionate, think from the perspective of others, accept one’s loss. And most importantly, how to cooperate with his dad, after that their relationship loosened a lot and they enjoyed each other. It’s Like This, Cat is truly an amazing book about the adventures and changes Dave goes through and can be enjoyed by any age.
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