Title: Where Is My Home? Based on a True Story
Author: Joan Romney Groves
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1546216995
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Pages: 42
Reviewed by: Barbara Scott
Pacific Book Review
A stray kitten becomes a stay-at-home cat in this vividly illustrated saga by Joan Romney Groves. One day, Brooke Jakes and her younger brother Danny discover their cat Tally curled up in the garage with four babies. The children’s mother has told them not to touch the kittens as it will cause Tally to move them, so they watch, fascinated, as the little ones grow, giving them names: Shadow, Tiger, Timberwolf and Sonic.
As the kittens get bigger, the children play with them – all except for Sonic, who hisses and runs away, or worse, administers scratches to anyone who tries to touch him. At two months, the kittens are big enough to be given away to new, loving homes – but no one will take Sonic, so Mrs. Jakes drops him off at an old barn where wild, stray cats have been sighted.
Sonic is unable to bond with the wild ones, and begins a trek through the countryside, wondering as he wanders, “Where is my home?” He has fights with birds and an occasional dog, tries unsuccessfully to steal a trout from a young fisherman, and gets doused with stink when trying to befriend a skunk. After many days, many adventures, and many miles, though, he finally finds a home, and a family to care for him. Sonic has changed since he was little, and the Jakes family is amazed to see him and pleased to welcome him back!
Groves, who had a long career in school counseling, has composed Sonic’s story based on real events, believing that children should be encouraged to read true stories. The colorful illustrations that fill every page are the work of Nancy Romney and Joan E. Schuller, who manage to instill real “personality” on the little kitten and on the other creatures he must confront in the wild.
The tale has an embedded moral that will please both young readers and their “read-to” elders: good behavior is rewarded, and there’s no place like home, especially after you’ve been away for a while. This well constructed feline fable is confidently recommended, sure to win smiles and satisfaction from young children and their parents, teachers or caregivers.
