Module 8: The Cheshire Cheese Cat

The Cheshire Cheese Cat
by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright

Citation:

Deedy, C. A., Wright, R., & Moser, B. (2011). The Cheshire cheese cat: A
        Dickens of a tale. Atlanta: Peachtree.

Summary

Skilley is an alley cat that gets a job at the Cheshire Cheese Inn as a “mouser.” However, Skilley has a secret. He doesn’t like to eat mice, he likes to eat cheese! In order to get a job, he catches a mouse named Pip and goes to the alley to release him and tells him to run away. Pip is very smart and can tell by the smell of his breath that he eats cheese. Skilley strike up a deal that he will protect the mice and they will get him cheese.

It turns out that Pip has a secret too. He is hiding a raven form the Tower of London that had been injured by some cats. The friends (and the gang of mice) hatch a plan to get the raven back to the Tower of London before war breaks out!

Throughout the book Charles Dickens shows up as a writer trying to write a book. His observations are scattered throughout.

Impressions

This was a cute chapter book with an interesting take on the cat and mouse relationship. I almost laughed out loud when I read that he doesn’t eat mice, but he likes cheese! The sprinkling in about Charles Dickens adds some interest too. This book has a storyline that keeps you interested and wanting to know what is going to happen next. This would be a great read aloud.

Professional Reviews

Gr 5–8--The vagaries of tavern life in 19th-century London come alive in this delightful tale. Skilley, a street cat with a secret (he eats cheese!), finds a home at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, where he pretends to be a mouser and gets the attention of Charles Dickens, a frequent customer. Befriended by Pip, a precocious mouse who can read and write, Skilley tries to protect his rodent pals and Maldwyn, an injured royal raven hiding in the garret, from Pinch, a ginger alley cat who's out for every tasty morsel he can get. There are cat-and-mouse battles aplenty. Several subplots are happily resolved: the cook reveals that the mice are her officialcheese-tasters; Queen Victoria herself comes to rescue Maldwyn; Mr. Dickens finally finds an opening sentence for his new novel, and more. The fast-moving plot is a masterwork of intricate detail that will keep readers enthralled, and the characters are well-rounded and believable. Language is a highlight of the novel; words both elegant and colorful fill the pages: "alacrity," "scrivener," "thieving moggy." And then there are the Dickensian references: "artful dodging of Hansom cabs," Dickens saying he has "great expectations." His amusing diary entries, revealing both his writing difficulties and

his thoughts about Skilley, and the occasionally fanciful page layouts add to the humor. Combined with Moser's precise pencil sketches of personality-filled characters, the book is a success in every way. It should be a first purchase for libraries interested in bringing young readers to the marvels of Dickens via the back-or, should I say tavern-door. 

School Library Journal

Menaldi-Scanlan, N. (2011). The Cheshire cheese cat: A Dickens of a tale

            [Review of book]. School Library Journal, 57(9), 150.

*********************

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a London haunt for writers in the nineteenth century, has a mouse problem, and cheese-loving alley-cat Skilley has the perfect solution. Speaking in a lovely British lilt, KeIlgren is as much at ease voicing the animal characters as she is with humans. Her dialects range from more common (London street cats) and refined (well-educated mouse leader Pip) to utterly royal (Queen Victoria), with her tones rising and falling to match pace and intensity. Charles Dickens' journal entries detail his struggles to write a new novel, and Sachs reads these passages in deep, smooth tones, with a sprinkling of amusement regarding Dickens' observations and exclamations. These evenly cadenced interludes are a welcome lull in this action-packed story, which, despite the absence of Barry Moser's pencil drawings, is a most entertaining audio. - Elizabeth Nelson

The Booklist
Nelson, E. (2012). The Cheshire cheese cat: A Dickens of a tale
               [Review of book]. The Booklist, 108(16), 80.

Library Uses

This would be a great book for a “Book Talk” or lesson showing the combination of Historical Fiction and Fantasy. It could also be used to start research on the time period, London, or Dickens.

References

            Amazon. (2016). [Image of book cover]. Retrieved from http://
                  www.amazon.com/Cheshire-Cheese-Carmen-Randall-
                  Wright/dp/1561458104/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie
                  =UTF8&qid=1458338274&s =1-1&keywords=cheshire+cheese

Deedy, C. A., Wright, R., & Moser, B. (2011). The Cheshire cheese cat: A 
        Dickens of a tale. Atlanta: Peachtree.

Menaldi-Scanlan, N. (2011). The Cheshire cheese cat: A Dickens of a tale
        [Review of book]. School Library Journal, 57(9), 150.

Nelson, E. (2012). The Cheshire cheese cat: A Dickens of a tale
               [Review of book]. The Booklist, 108(16), 80.