Pyewacket

by Rosemary Weir

When I picked up this book up secondhand, it was because I thought I'd read the name of the main character before- a cat named Pyewacket in another book, called after this Pyewacket whom I didn't know of before...

Not sure which book it was that mentioned it, but now I know who the original Pyewacket is. A tough, scarred, one-eyed cat that lives at the end of a rundown lane. There is a cat in each house- a young foolish kitten, an older gentle cat who lives with two ladies, a rather snobby Siamese, a standoffish Manx, two other toms- variety of types. The cats are sitting around complaining about how their humans mistreat or neglect them when the old tom Pyewacket announces a plan: get rid of the humans and have the lane to themselves. He makes a deal with the local rats to enlist their help in scaring away the people, but something else much bigger than Pyewacket's plan is going on. Quicker than they had expected, the people start to leave and the cats (who manage to avoid being taken along when their owners move out) are left to their own devices- but not in easy possession of their homes as they had assumed. The entire street is being torn down for a factory to be built. The cats start to get cold and hungry (loosing their edge against the rats) and then their leader is injured and carried off to the animal hospital. What will become of the cats now?

It has a good ending- rather predictable, but with a few nice turns. I liked the inked illustrations by Charles Pickard.

Rating: 3/5       123 pages, 197