Sonderbooks Book Review of The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly

****The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly*

by Luis Sepulveda

translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden

illustrations by Chris Sheban

Reviewed March 21, 2004.
Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic Press), New York, 2003. 126 pages.

The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly is a simple and thoroughly nice story. Zorba is a cat from the port city of Hamburg. One day a seagull flies onto his balcony. She is covered with oil from an oil slick, and she has made her last flight. With her last strength she lays an egg. Before she dies, she asks Zorba for three promises: Not to eat the egg, to look after it until the chick is born, and to teach it to fly.

Zorba faithfully sets out to keep his promises, but it’s not easy for a cat to teach a bird to fly. Something extraordinary will have to be done.

My 9-year-old son read this first and liked it a lot. This is simply a good story. As with all Arthur Levine Books, the pictures are perfect for the text. A good story about an unlikely friendship and keeping difficult promises.

Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

***The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly

by Luis Sepulveda

translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden

illustrations by Chris Sheban

****The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly*