"Millions of Cats" by Wanda Ga'g

Citation:
Ga'g, Wanda. Millions of Cats. New York, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1928.
ISBN: 9780399233159

Plot Summary:
Millions of Cats is the story of how an old couple find a cat as a companion.  The very old woman wishes to have a beautiful cat to keep the couple company.  The old very old man seeks to find her the prettiest cat!  He comes upon a hill filled with cats and he is not able to choose, trouble ensues as the very old man brings all of the cats home to his wife.  How ever will they choose?  The story ends happily as the couple ultimately finds the perfect pet!

Critical Analysis:
Ga'g's storyline is definitely memorable.  The text looks wordy on the page but reads easily.  Readers are sure to join in on the repeated line: "hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats!"  This is a helpful hook for emerging readers.

The reader should also enjoy the subtle humor that Ga'g employs.  While walking home with the cats, they drink up a whole pond and eat an entire hill of grass but once the very old man gets home and the very old woman exclaims "But we can never feed them all."  The very old man replies, "I never thought of that."

The very old man is concerned with finding the prettiest cat.  He is unable to do so because each cat looks as pretty as the last.  When the very old couple asks the cats to decide amongst themselves who is the prettiest, each cat believes she is the prettiest and the cats end up destroying each other because of their vanity.  Only one remains, a humble, "homely cat."  A take away moral of the story is that vanity is destructive and beauty is fleeting.  The cat that didn't declare herself most beautiful is the cat that becomes the very old couple's beloved pet.

Review Excerpts:
One Minute Book Review (Janice Harayda): "Millions of Cats was the first American picture book that had both popular and literary success, and it’s still one of the worthiest of its honors."
School Library Journal Top 1000 Picture Books #21 (Elizabeth Bird): "Who would have thought that a tale of cannibalistic felines would turn out to be one of the greatest story time classics of all time?"
Newberry Honor Book

Connections:
*Perhaps reading the story a child could be asked how he or she would choose a pet cat and why.  Is the child driven to choose the same way as the very old man?  Will the child understand that love makes things beautiful?
*Other books by Wanda Ga'g:
Snippy and Snappy ISBN: 9780816642458