Wilderness Cat

by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, Mark Graham (Illustrator)

With food scarce in their new home in the Canadian wilderness, Serena and her sister and mother wait at home while her father and her brother Luke return to Craftsbury to earn some money.

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

My sister, three brothers, and I grew up on a Vermont dairy farm in a region known as the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, USA, where my Scottish ancestors settled almost two hundred years ago.

Our lives revolved around our church, our community, and the hard work of farming. Along with milking and feeding the animals each morning and evening, there was the work of each season: maple sugaring, plowing, picking stone, planting, haying, corn-cutting, harvest, cutting wood.

While my parents lives were consumed by farming and providing for their children, they managed to pass on much more to us. My mother, a teacher, instilled in us a love of books and reading, and a curiosity about everything, while my father, besides being an excellent athlete, has also encouraged our interest in the natural world, whether it was identifying birds, trees and wildflowers, or pointing out constellations on a starry night.

My book As Long As There Are Mountains is based on my childhood and my love of the farm, the land, and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

Reviews

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brave girl, a determined cat and a parent who admits he's wrong. Very satisfying.

[Margaret Welwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wilderness Cat highlights God’s provision to a pioneer family–through their faithful cat. Most young children–Tina and the kindergartners included–like animals, but this quiet story held them all particularly enthralled. I think they strongly identified with the heroine, who obediently but with great difficulty gave her beloved cat to a neighbor before the family began their 50-mile trek to Canada.

Life was hard that winter, especially when Papa came home empty-handed from a hunting trip. There was a catch in my voice when I told the children that Serena offered Mama her own dinner. (Mama refused.)

That night, Serena dreamed she heard her cat crying. Or was it a dream? She opened the door to find that her pet had not only returned, it was dragging a snowshoe hare with it. A feast followed, as well as a promise from Mama that they would never leave their faithful kitty behind again.

By allowing the kindergartners to choose the books, I get to observe them judging a book by its cover. Wilderness Cat was their first choice, as it was eight-year-old Tina's.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love my kitties and Moses is their hero.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story, but the pictures looked annoyingly modern for a story set presumably in the 1800s. Serena's dress and hair style in particular did not look at all 19th century.