Catcall

Image taken from http://www.amazon.co.uk

Illustrator: Ian P. Benfold Haywood

Genre: Realism, Family-Life

Age Range: 7-11

Theme/Subject: Acceptance, Families, Separation

Publisher: Orion

ISBN: 9781842555682

Synopsis: (Taken from the blurb)

Josh’s family is used to changes – but now they’re hurtling into even more. Although Josh has always had an affinity with animals, it’s his younger brother Jamie who falls under the wild cat spell. Leo seems to have taken over Jamie’s life. Soon it becomes impossible for the family to cope with his frightening, unpredictable behaviour. Only Josh understands, but is he brave enough to break through Jamie’s unhappy mask, and save them all?

Review:

I am rather ashamed to say that ‘Catcall’ is the first Linda Newbury novel I have read. I have owned ‘At the Firefly Gate’ for over a year now but have not gotten around to reading it. However, after reading ‘Catcall’ I know that it’ll be one that makes my immediate reading list. Newbury’s writing style is accessible and yet deep and ‘empathetic’. Within moments, I was in the book and the lives of Jamie and Josh.
The novel is written in first person, which I always admire when an author handles this well. We see the story take place through the eyes of Josh, the elder brother. Josh and Jamie live with their mother and step-father as well as their ‘new’ baby step-sister, Jennie. Their father lives further in London with his girlfriend, Kim and her teenage son Kevin. The story is a very interesting insight into personal territory and one boy’s fight to try and keep his identity while the world around him changes for the worse.
Josh’s younger brother, Jamie, after a visit to a zoo, seems to become possessed by the spirit of a lion that they see caged up. As the book progresses, Jamie becomes more and more lost and the spirit of ‘Leo’ increases. Josh and his family look on in horror as they see Jamie’s persona disappear behind an angry cat-mask. It is only the person who is closest to him, his big brother Josh, who can pull him back from the darkness of acceptance.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked the whole idea of the story of ‘one boy’s refusal to accept change in his family’. Newbury seems to effortlessly create thoughtful and well-painted characters whose dialogue and actions are easy to imagine and a joy to soak up. The book is interspersed with cut-outs from Josh’s Catbook where we learn fascinating facts about cats throughout history and science. The themes of the story are ones that children, for whom the book is aimed at, can either relate to or at least empathise with. This would make a very good class reading book for Year 4 to Year 6 and could be a prompt for a lot of discussion if handled well.
This was our school Book Group book and the pupils really enjoyed it. I would like to say a huge thanks to Linda Newbury for the gifts and kind words which she wrote to the group: the children were overwhelmed and deeply grateful. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who likes to think about the challenges of a family that has broken up and the relationships between siblings in a household when this happens.