Caldecott #3

Kitten's First Moon was written by Kevin Henkes in 2004. It won the Caldecott Medal the following year. This story is about a little kitten who experiences its first full moon. However, the kitten has confused the moon with a bowl of milk. The kitten chases the moon, climbs a tree to try to reach it, and even jumps in a pond after it's refletion. After all these struggles, the kitten finds a bowl of milk on the porch waiting for him.

The idea of the kitten confusing the moon with a bowl of milk was creative. I never thought of it that way. It's not like me to get excited about a bowl of milk. Children would enjoy te struggles of the kitten and would find them humorous. The black and white pictures gie thois book a timeless feel that I enjoyed. However, I feel that students would not like the pictures as well because of the lack of color.

I could associate with this book. As a child, I had kittens and cats as pets. They were always into something and doing something mischevious. The most fun our cats ever had was Christmas. They loved climbing the tree, playing with the ribbon on presents, and toying with the glass ornaments that hung from the branches. Any pet lovers would appreciate this book and the character, the kitten.

The illustrations of this book are simliar to ones found in Millions of Cats. This book was written by Wanda Gag in 1923. Both books are about cats and have the timeless black and white illustrations.

One thing I learned from this book is that the topic of pets would appeal to the audience. I also learned that the story can be about something as simple as a cat after a bowl of milk. I've always wanted to write a children's book. I felt like my ideas were never good enough to make a good story. Great stories come from real-life exoeriences and memories.