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Whittington

a children’s book review by Nick Jackson

Whittington

by Alan Armstrong

illustrated by S. D. Schindler

Random House 2005 (New York)

ISBN: 0375828648

List Price: $14.95

“Whittington” is about a modern anthropomorphized cat and the semi-apocryphal tale he tells about his 14th century ancestor’s owner and namesake, Dick Whittington. At story beginning the cat has been abandoned by previous owners and seeks shelter in a barn full of broken down animals. The almost menagerie represents something of the dysfunctional family life of a part-time farmer and fulltime Texaco gas station operator named Bernie.

The worst problems in the barn are rats terrorizing the hens and killing their chicks. The deal struck by the cat is that he has a home in the barn in exchange for getting control over the barnyard rats and telling a great story to the rest of the animals. The book progresses with an interweaving of problems afflicting Bernie’s human family, those of the various anthropomorphized barn animals and some faced by a legendary 14th century seafaring trader and merchant.

“Whittington” was announced by the American Library Association as a 2006 Newbery Honor Book and well deserves the honor. Published for readers between grades 4 and 8, “Whittington” gives young readers a sense of medieval England and disappearing American rural life while teaching the importance of cooperation against competing interests. The mutual benefits gained by the various characters in the book provide a subtle lesson transferable to many aspects of modern living. Certainly it sets a fitting background for the much darker barnyard tale, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” often studied by students a bit later during their high school years.