The Good Luck Cat by Joy Harjo illustrated by Paul Lee

Each week I work with a small group of Grade 5 girls. These girls are struggling with reading but of even more concern is the struggle they have with comprehension. This surely is the reason we read.

This term our novel study is Aristotle by Dick King Smith.  Last week I came across The Good Luck Cat and it seemed like the perfect picture book partner. I thought I would use The Good Luck Cat as a warm up exercise before we started our reading of Aristotle. Both books explore the idea that cats have nine lives.

Before we started I asked the girls about cats and the idea of nine lives. This was a totally new idea to one of the girls. We make so many assumptions about general knowledge and I am not sure if I successfully explained the idea of nine lives to this student. Adding to this The Good Luck Cat explorers the culture of North American Indians. There is a reference in the book to a bustle. Native American Indians wear the bustle as part of their dance routine at the Pow Wow. They are made from eagle or hawk feathers. You can see one here:

Image Source: http://www.native-american-beadwork.net/english/English09What_is_Pow_Wow.htm

Our time was short so I didn't really spend enough time with this group talking about North American Indian traditions such as the pow wow and tee pee.

In The Good Luck Cat our narrator recounts the story of Woogie and how each of her nine lives was lost. Some are funny (in the clothes dryer), some are obvious (falling from a tree) and a couple are a little disturbing (shot with a BB gun by some young boys). 

The Good Luck Cat is not a new book - published in 2000 - but it made a good link text with Aristotle. Here is a review of The Good Luck Cat where you can see inside the book and read more plot details.