Most of my life I have
been owned by or at least influenced by a cat or two. At present there is a small black cat who
shares my abode. She keeps me company
and complains when I've been gone while ignoring me most of the time I am home.
One of the earliest
stories I remember is Millions of Cats
written and illustrated by Wanda Gág. So
it wasn’t surprising to me that I learned to tell Millions of Cats early on in my storytelling career. I was teaching second grade and used my
storytelling skills to enhance my teaching and to keep the children engaged
while we had to wait – for lunch, for P.E., for recess, for library. Right away they learned the refrain,
“Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of
cats.” And chanted with me each time I
used the refrain. Sometimes we enacted
the story with the children being the cats trailing behind me as we “went over
the sunny hills and through the cool valleys.”
For a Summer Reading program, where a craft was expected to go along
with the stories, I came up with the idea of paper bag cat puppets. The story has grown and changed through the
years, but it is still one of my favorites to tell.
Other cat stories that
come to mind are Puss in Boots, The Cat Who Went to Heaven, The White Cat, and, of course, the
Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
Here is a link to a great
cat blog.
