Millions of Cats by Wanda G'ag

Millions of Cats

Bibliography

Ga'g, Wanda.  1928. Millions of cats.  New York, NY: G.F. Putnam's Sons.  ISBN: 9780399233159

Plot Summary

A very old man and woman are lonely, so upon the request of the woman, the man journeys a great distance to a hill will millions and billions of cats.  He had trouble choosing the prettiest cat, so he took them all.  They drank all the water and ate all the food, and when told to choose the prettiest amongst themselves, the cats fought each other until none were left, except for the one humble kitten who didn't think he was pretty and hid away from the fighting.  The old couple nurtured this kitten back to health and lived happily ever after.

Critical Analysis

The story starts out in a very straightforward manner:  a man goes on a journey to find his wife a cat.  The conflict arises when the very old man is unable to decide which cat he thinks is the prettiest, so he decides to take them all.  Unfortunately, the cats begin to eradicate all the food and water supplies in the area, and they fight each other to the death when the couple told the cats they should decide who was the prettiest to keep.

The underlying theme stresses the consequences of greed and pride.  Being too greedy and taking as much as you can instead of just one, like the very old man did with the cats, leads to negative consequences.  Also, all of the vain cats who think they are the prettiest fight each other until only the humble cat is left who didn't boast about being the most beautiful.  This cat received the love and care of the very old couple.

The font of the text and style of illustrations reflect the age of the book; everything is in black and white with the characters having simple features.  However, the illustrations do a good job of depicting the story.  For example, to show how long of a journey the very old man took, the picture of the hills he journeyed through is long and narrow and spans both pages.  The pictures also do a good job of guiding the eyes of the reader to the next part of the story.  The character's facial expressions don't change much throughout the story, but their body language does convey emotions such as frustration and contentment.

Review Excerpts

This book won the 1929 Newberry Award and the 1958 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.

School Library Journal ranks Millions of Cats as #21 of the Top 100 Picture books.  A June, 11, 2012 review by Elizabeth Bird hails the book as a classic,  stating that it "came close to being the oldest picture book on this list."

Connections

I chose this book because I love cats, but it was not quite what I expected.  This book reflects the values of the time, nearly a century ago, when being humble was a virtue.  While those values are still important today, the fact that the cats fight to the death may not be as widely accepted as something today's parents want to share with their children.  I feel that today's society tends to protect children from the gruesome realities of the world more than parents of the 1920's and 1930's when reality was often harsh or gruesome for all. 

Other books by Wanda G'ag that readers may enjoy if they liked Millions of Cats:  Funny Thing, ISBN 9780816642410, and More Tales from Grimm, ISBN 9780816649372.