This cat needs food! (Six-Dinner Sid - Inga Moore)

Member Name: juicy_lucy

Product:	Six-Dinner Sid - Inga Moore
Date:	21/11/07 (263 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple story

Disadvantages: None

Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore

This is basically a story about a cat who has six owners, and because of this fact, ends up eating six dinners every day... truly an independent cat.

~~The Story ~~

We first meet Sid on the first page when we see a sleek black cat sitting by the door of a house on a leafy road. This, we learn is Aristotle street, and sid lives at number 1. But hold on and continue onto the next double page spread; this is where we see more of the street and learn that not only does Sid live at number one Aristotle street but also at numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

The idea is that Sid goes from house to house and gets a dinner in each, and in a series of smaller pictures we see him eat his range of dishes until he looks totally bloated at number 6 where he has finished off the evening with a beef and kidney stew.

This suited Sid just fine and because the people on Aristotle Street didn't talk to each other, he believed he would never be caught out. He sometimes found it hard work having different personalities and names, but enjoyed the getting tickled in 6 different places and sleeping in 6 different beds.

All of this goes on just fine until Sid gets a cough. He gets taken to the vets not once or twice but six times, and has to endure 6 doses of medicine. When the vet phones his "owners" to tell them all that they all share the same cat, they are not happy. Once they have found out, they decide that Sid can have only one dinner a night. By this time though, Sid is definitely a 6 dinner a night cat, and knows he can't settle for one.

So, what does he do? Not happy...move on. He goes to another street and because the people there all talk to each other and all know they share Sid, they are all happy to feed him!!

Everyone a winner.

~~Illustrations~~

The picture on the front cover alerts us as to what Sid is going to be like- a sleek and in my opinion rather smug looking black cat sitting in front of 6 empty bowls.

Throughout the book, the illustrations are bold colourful and detailed and depict quite an idyllic street and life style. They are double page and single spread or a series of smaller pictures depending on what the author is wanting to convey. For example, the times she want to emphasise the fact that Sid has 6 of everything- dinners, medicines, beds and personalities, these pictures are done in a series of pictures. This actually enables the reader to compare his different lives and make us really believe he is living them because we can see him in all the scenarios.

The text is written amongst or round the pictures, and tells the story of the pictures. However, by looking at these pictures, we could almost tell a very similar story had there not been words.

~~Other bits of information~~

ISBN: 0-7500-0304-9 (Macdonald Young Books)

Published: 1990 by Simon and Schuster


~~Other books by the same author~~

The author and illustrator of the book has written and illustrated other books including:

Fifty red Night Caps
A Big Day For Little Rabbit
Oh Little Jack
The Truffle Hunter

She has illustrated many books including:

The Jungle Book
The Wind in the Willows
The Secret garden
The Book of Beasts

~~Verdict~~

A story lots of children seem to enjoy. They like the fact that Sid manages to get six dinners and usually feel sad for him when he is found out and all the "owners" are standing in a circle around him looking disapproving. It also seems to appeal to children that Sid manages to find another street and families to take care of him.

The story line itself is quite an amusing one, and encourages children to discuss their pets and their personalities.

The illustrations are appealing because they have enough detail to interest but not so much that it all becomes confusing.

The storyline will probably be too difficult for very young children because the listener has to have an understanding of the things that are going on to understand Sid's life and later predicament. However, the pictures are bright enough to show very young children because they will be able to pick out the cat. I have read it to children of 6 and 7 years old and this seems to work- old enough to understand the story line fully, and young enough to appreciate the simple picture book format.

A simple story which children enjoy.

Thanks for reading.

Daniela xx

Summary: Picture book about a hungry cat