The Cat at the Wall
The Cat at the Wall by Deborah Ellis is a thought-provoking novel published by Groundwood Books in 2014. This edition, written in English and spanning 152 pages, presents a unique narrative set on Israel’s West Bank, where a cat unexpectedly finds herself in a tense situation involving two Israeli soldiers and a hidden Palestinian boy. As the story unfolds, the cat grapples with her past life as a North American girl and her new reality, raising questions about empathy and responsibility.
Readers will discover a blend of action and adventure as the cat navigates her surroundings, ultimately facing a moral dilemma about helping the boy. The narrative explores themes related to social issues, violence, and the values inherent in human and animal connections. As the tension escalates with the arrival of the boy’s classmates and the surrounding villagers, the cat must confront her instincts and decide how to respond to the unfolding crisis. This engaging story invites reflection on the complexities of survival and the impact of individual actions in challenging circumstances.
Official synopsis Publisher
A remarkable and thought-provoking new novel set on Israel’s West Bank, by the author of The Breadwinner.
On Israel’s West Bank, a cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house that has just been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards.
Should she help him?
After all, she’s just a cat.
Or is she?
It turns out that this particular cat is not used to thinking about anyone but herself. She was once a regular North American girl who only had to deal with normal middle-school problems — staying under the teachers’ radar, bullying her sister and the uncool kids at school, outsmarting her clueless parents.
But that was before she died and came back to life as a cat, in a place with a whole different set of rules for survival.
When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don’t know what to do with him. Where are the child’s parents? Why has he been left alone in the house? It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching.
Not my business, thinks the cat. And then she sees a photograph, and suddenly she understands what happened to the boy’s parents, and why they have not returned. And as the soldiers begin to panic, and disaster seems certain, she knows that it is up to her to diffuse the situation.
But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do?
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
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