Star Ka'at

Star Ka'at #1

by Andre Norton, Dorothy Madlee

Two intriguing stray cats communicate with Jim and Elly Mae, convincing them that the cats are aliens from another planet.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cats, Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Young Adult, Animals

Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Agnė · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although I found the owner/pet role reversal quite interesting, the plot of Star Ka'at is rather boring, and the writing style is repetitive. For most of the book, nothing really happens, and the human characters are very cliched and... I don't know, sappy? Nice pencil illustrations, though.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was only the second time Andre Norton in a writing career that began in earnest around 1950 accepted a co-writer. She started doing this in the 1970s for children's literature. Presumably, she liked having a co-writer because starting in the late 1980s most of her novels for adults were co-written as well. It is hard to tell for certain, but I could detect little of Norton's style in the writing of this book. I suspect it was mostly written by her co-writer, Dorothy Madlee, and that Norton simply signed off.

Where the book pleasantly surprised me was that both the protagonists are compelling characters. Both have recently lost a parental figure and find themselves bereft of support as a result. The boy, white, comes from privilege, and is faced with emotional deprivation primarily. The girl, African-American, was being raised by her grandmother but is left destitute and now faces both physical and emotional deprivation. It's a horrifying situation for both characters the author doesn't fully engage, but to her credit doesn't sweeten either.

How do these two characters even know each other, given the disparity in their home environments? Well, that's the interesting part. They meet in an abandoned house where they encounter two different cats, ka'ats really, who turn out be aliens from another world. These ka'ats who communicate telepathically and take the children to meet their leader. The children win the ka'ats' acceptance and will be taken care of and raised by their adopted pets.

The premise sounds far-fetched, and is, but Norton and Madlee make it work somehow. This is the first in a four-part series.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Turning the more traditional SFF plot on its head, two felines from an ancient space- faring race arrive on Earth with a mission: to rescue their abandoned brethren. They don't expect to become attached to any humans, but find themselves drawn to two children.

The owner/pet reversals are amusing and there's just enough detail to get early elementary school children interested without being bogged down.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is actually by Norton and Dorothy Madlee jointly.

I got stuck in a train during a massive signals outage, so got it all read in a sitting.

A cute little kid's tale - I was a little suprised when I opened it to find out it was being targetted at a younger age-group than the cover suggested, but at .50 from the church fair it was a good read never the less.

[ambyr · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off: I am amazed the typography on the cover version I have did not get the publisher sued for trademark infringement.

Second off: I am deeply curious about who Dorothy Madlee was (the Internet provides me no biographic detail) and what the co-writing process for this book was like. There are two threads here: one, two orphaned kids in a DC of indeterminate time period* building a tentative friendship, the other, a bunch of telepathic alien cats on a mission. To my vast surprise, I enjoyed the former and found the latter unconvincing and dull. There is not nearly enough page time devoted to the bond between cats (sorry, ka'ats) and humans to make the ending work for me--except in the sense that Elly is not unreasonably making a choice straight out of The Women Men Don't See. But why the ka'ats go for it, well, that's not developed at all.

*I say "indeterminate time period" because I know enough about the history of DC's urban development to recognize some things--the highway system, and for that matter more broadly the state of the Cold War and the prevalence of television--as being at least in the 60s, while others--the alley community Elly lives in--were typical of DC in the 40s and earlier but started vanishing in the 1950s with the rise of public housing complexes. My best guess, having glanced at Norton's biography, is that she was incorporating local color from her memories of her time living in DC in the early 40s and did not realize how much had changed.

[Carmyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 simplistic and not really what I remembered

[Zabet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read one of the Star Ka'at series back in the mid 1980s, and I liked it enough that I've kept the battered paperback in my library all this time, through many culls. I get nostalgic near my birthday, so I picked up a used copy of the first book in the series. It's a slim, hardback volume about 100 pages long with the biggest type and largest margins you've ever seen. XD It also has some beautiful pencil illustrations of the characters and cats (er, Ka'ats).

Published in 1976 by Andre Norton and Dorothy Madlee (two elderly white women, one of whom was undeniably a giant of SFF), it was probably revolutionary in middle-grade lit for having a little Black girl as one of the main characters. Reading it in 2022, though... well. If something similar were written today, there would hopefully be a lot different.

(Spoilers below, though I will leave out some details about the characters to try to not let you come to any assumptions as to which child from the cover art is which.)

The story has heart, though: Two children from different American backgrounds find unexpected friendship with each other through a chance encounter. One has just experienced a major trauma, the other is about to go through/goes through something similar and we get to see the other child made a conscious choice to exercise empathy. They each separately find and bond with a "stray cat" - an alien Ka'at who uses telepathy to communicate and interact with its native technology. The Ka'ats are nearly as different from each other as the two children in their approaches to humans. They are here to rescue their descendants who are still Ka'at enough to respond to their telepathic call, as the humans are apparently on the verge of an apocalyptic mistake. Though it's never specified, it's probably nuclear war, and one of the children considers this when trying to figure out why their foster parents are making plans for the family's safety. But one of the reasons why the children bond so easily and deeply to the Ka'ats is because they also pick up on the Ka'ats' telepathy, and when the rescue mission is put into motion, the children are worried for their missing cats. Following a feeling, they arrive at the Ka'at shuttlecraft. One child is invited by their Ka'at to come to safety and climbs aboard gladly, excited to find a new home that they can make their own. The other child is ordered onto the craft because their Ka'at is worried too much has been seen and the child might bring back the human authorities, spoiling the rescue mission. In the end, both Ka'ats claim their respective children as kin, pledging to the Ka'at council to be completely responsible for them in every way, and the story ends with both the children and the Ka'ats full of hope, feeling safe and loved, ready for their new future.

Honestly, with some reworking, together with the other books in the series, it would make a good TV show, maybe a 12- or 16-episode miniseries. Personally, I'd like to see the girl take center stage, because growing up the only SF by a major writer that I came into contact with that had a girl as the main character was Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars.

[Kenya Starflight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a cat lover and a science fiction lover, so coming across a book about alien cats seemed like a match made in heaven. The edition of the book I found even had the title in a font very reminiscent of the "Star Wars" logo (it must have been a common font at the time, because the book was published a year before that movie was released). And the fact that it was co-authored by an excellent sci-fi author, Andre Norton, didn't hurt matters. All combined, this makes for a short but unexpectedly emotional and well-done sci-fi novel.

Jim is a boy in foster care after the deaths of his parents, while Elly is a girl trying to take care of her ailing grandmother in the slums of a big city. Both children find unlikely friends in a pair of seemingly-intelligent cats, and form a tenuous friendship themselves. But their cats, Tiro and Mer, are no ordinary cats -- they're Ka'ats, intelligent ancestors of Earth cats that hail from another planet entirely! The Ka'ats have returned to Earth to retrieve their kin before humans can destroy the planet... but will Jim and Elly let their new friends leave without them?

For the most part, this is a fairly standard kids' novel, and fairly typical of the time period in which it was published. There's a healthy dose of "humans are the real monsters," as well as the impending threat of a nuclear war and troubles in the Middle East -- both of which were highly prevalent in media and culture in general at the time. It's raised above most other books of its kind by good writing, however, and well-done characterization for both the kids and the cats -- excuse me, Ka'ats.

The book also isn't afraid to address some challenging topics -- war, human cruelty, the death of one's parents/guardians, foster care, extreme poverty, etc. It doesn't preach about these elements, however, but makes them feel like natural, organic parts of the story. And while the ending is left fairly open-ended (how am I just now finding out that this is a series?), it's still a satisfying read.

A good feline sci-fi read, great for both kids and adults... and especially if you're an Andre Norton fan.

[Vladimir Protasov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very kind and interesting kids book (the whole series in fact). It was a birthday gift from a friend and I'm really grateful for It. It made me slightly better person and the book will be one of the few I'll eventually give to my kids.

[Rob Hopwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Ka’at by Andre Norton, Dorothy Madlee

Andre Norton wrote many science fiction books about cats and other animals, and as the title and cover suggest, this is one of them. However, the Star Ka’at Series is for a younger audience than most of her works, and I think would probably be enjoyed most by people between 10 and 12 years of age. This book was first published in 1976.
The basic idea fueling the plot is that terrestrial cats are the descendants of a telepathic star-faring race of beings called Ka’ats who visited and settled on Earth in the distant past. At first, mankind could communicate with these alien visitors and respected them as equals (hence the ancient Egyptian obsession with cats), but this gradually changed as human civilization developed. Over countless generations, most of the Ka’ats on Earth lost their original sentience and became cats, but some still retain traces of their former powers.
The extraterrestrial Ka’at civilization has learned that humanity is about to destroy itself through greed and selfishness, and so embarks on a mission to rescue any earthly cats who can still respond to their call. The Ka’at operatives are commanded not under any circumstances to forge close connections with any humans, as this species is seen as too capricious and unreliable. The rescue operation seems set to run smoothly until a couple of the Ka’at scouts encounter two orphaned children who have the ability to respond to their telepathic messages. This presents the two scouts with a thorny ethical dilemma and potentially threatens the success of their whole mission.
This story is definitely well-suited to the age-group for which it is intended. The characterizations are generally good, and the descriptions of the children’s thoughts and feelings are quite convincing. Although they are both orphans, they come from widely different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, and this situation is realistically reflected in the ways they think about the world and their places in it.
Themes and undercurrents related to environmental protection and stewardship responsibility for the planet run through quite a few of Andre Norton’s books, and this story may help young readers to become more aware of related issues.
Adult readers will find this a simple story and a quick read. While I think people of any age could enjoy it, those of the intended target group may especially be interested in the creative concepts, unfamiliar vocabulary, and the notion of super-intelligent talking cats from another planet! And the detailed and attractive pencil illustrations throughout the book will likely be appreciated by young and old alike.

[Inanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Space Cats!
What more need I say to make you pick up this classic sci-fi story?

Jim is an orphan, living with the Dales in the US during the Cold War (if I interpreted that correctly). Elly is an orphan, too, except she’s living with her grandmother who isn’t doing well and Elly tries to earn some money by trading useful trash.

Jim meets Tiro, the black Ka’at, who subtly influences Jim’s mind via telepathy and Elly meets Mer, a white-ish Ka’at.

Jim and Elly both have a caring heart: Elly cares for her grandmother and comes to care about Mer and Jim and Jim starts to care about Elly and Tiro. The Ka’ats weren’t supposed to have the human children grow on them, their mission was solely to safely establish a temporary base in a human neighbourhood and to safely bring the borderline telepathic cats from earth, their half-kin, to the safety of the mothership before a catastrophe strikes during the Cold War.

Will Jim and Elly learn the truth about Tiro and Mer?
Will the rescue mission go as planned?

Read this heartbreaking and heartmending book.

Thank you, grandpa for secretly getting this book for me and having it travel all the way from the US to Europe. You’re the real MVP!

[Cuauhtemoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book by Andre Norton and Dorothy Madlee. I do not believe this is a book for children, at least not in current times. This is more like a pre-teen book. It tells the story of two children of different social classes (one middle class, one extremely poor) that meet a race of space-daring cats, the Ka'ats, that were scouting planet Earth.
Knowing my 8-year old kid, I am sure she would not like this book NOW. She is way too sensitive and this book will most surely make her cry, even though the book is not THAT sad by any means, it is just that it was written for the tougher children of the '70s. I am planning to give this book as a present to her once she is 10-12 years old.
Overall this book is 2.5 to 3 stars. It is not Norton's best work, at times it is too predictable and repetitive.

[Moosehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! Thank you, thank you. I have literally been trying to remember the title of this book for three decades! I have done so many fruitless Google searches over the years and was resigned to it mystifying me forever! This is amazing.

I loved this as a child; I remember it feeling so very poignant... I recall being deeply touched by the little girl and her grandma. I seem to recall them being poverty stricken, and it fostered so much empathy in my little heart; I remember reading it in my primary school library and wanting to cry from a deep place in my being. Have wanted to re-read this my entire life.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love cats. Andre Norton definitely wrote them into a lot of stories, so I think she must have too. Unfortunately this book did not read like a typical Norton. The characterization of the cats was spot on, but the telepathy thing wasn't done very well. If I hadn't had read this sort of storyline before, I might have found it confusing. I know my sixth graders would have had to have it explained. I liked the story, but the construction wasn't up to what I would have expected from the Granddam of science-fiction.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sci-fi book about alien cats by Andre Norton -- I picked this one up ages ago for the preceding reasons, but the fact it's kid lit meant I wasn't really rushing to read it. It's a short, pretty simple read, but a lot more serious than I was expecting from an alien cat book. We have orphans/death of guardian, some dark history involving cats, and the potential end of the world. It's all dealt with in a fairly kid-friendly way (without getting bogged down) but it's still heavy stuff. Of course, at its core, it's about two lonely kids connecting with cats, so I certainly can appreciate that.

[Penny lurkykitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember enjoying this book as a kid and recently reread it. Two lonely children, Jim and Elly are befriended by two stray cats who seem to be able to communicate telepathically with them. It turns out they are Ka’ats, an ancient race of cat-like beings who have come to Earth to rescue their descendants among Earth’s cats. The children and Ka’ats are portrayed compassionately and I really like the idea of cats flying space ships.

[Daniel O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andre Norton's Ma'am novels

Any novel by these authors is a pleasure to read! Andre Norton was named as the very best at what she did, write stories you can only wish you could inhabit. I started reading her as a young teen and never looked back. She ranks with all the great authors. Asimov, Clark, Pohl , Hienlin, and so many more. Modern authors have big shoes to fill. Please excuse my spelling faults.

[Kendal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for a children’s book written in the 70’s. The ka’at’s ideology was firmly based on progressive and no -violent ideals. I enjoyed the fact one of the main protagonists was BIOPIC and female though her situation was less privileged. Which I guess is kore realistic. I’m not sure how I feel about the end; abandoning ‘humans’ to their evil and simply removing these promising children to live among the stars but it’s a series so who knows.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 2 out of 5]

A slight volume that hints at a more complicated story but doesn’t come close to delivering one. In fact, the plot is little more than its MG protagonists lining up for a SF adventure ride that will (presumably) begin with book two.

2.5★

[Georgann · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a sweet story for a younger audience. I loved the illustrations! I'm sure the children go on to have many wonderful adventures and grow into the very best kind of adults.

[Wyktor Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat little book that combines cats and science fiction, what else could one ask for.
Highly recommended.

[Alexandra Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was 9-10 and it was a great adventure book. It’s a bit slow for adult readers but a fun, easy sci-fi for kids.

[Gregg Chamberlain]

Very entertaining children's book by one of the mistresses of sf and fantasy.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice story from the 1970s about two lonely children who have no connections with anyone. Jim has lost both his parents in a plane crash and is living with foster parents who are adequate but not especially loving. Elly's grandmother dies after Elly had tried for a long time to take care of her and now Elly is homeless. They are befriended by two magnificent star Ka'ats who have come to rescue their downtrodden relatives on earth before the planet gets any worse off than it is now. They communicate telepathically. The kids find out too much and the ka'ats have to make a decision about Jim and Elly. Too short for any character development really.

[F · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am too much of a realist to accept this young adult sci-fiction. I cannot accept such actions as cats and humans "thought-sending", and cats boarding an aircraft that "goes higher than jets" to hook-up to a command center station. In this command center, the "Seniors" (hi-profile cats) have laws / rules. A decision must be made as to whether the Seniors are going to let the two main characters, Jim and Elly, (humans) live at the cat command center in space to avoid a bad catastrophe on earth. My 9- to 12-year-old will find something more worth their time to read.

[Valerie]

Spacefaring felines come to Earth to rescue the descendants of stranded relatives adopt a couple of stray human children as pets. Not to worry--there're only two, and they probably won't reproduce excessively--and anyway, you're going to have them spayed, right?

Seriously, it worries me that the Star Ka'ats think they can just abandon humans to their fate. Quite possibly, some of the Earthborn cats who didn't come refused to abandon their human companions, rather than being unable to hear the call.

[Robert Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable quick read that is clearly the first in a series. The only thing I disliked was that absolutely nothing was made of Jim up and leaving his foster parents without a word. Especially after the point being made, and one of the reasons why he was kept by the Ka'ats, that he was a thoughtful boy and cared about others. Whoops. I might have let it go if the parents had been made out to be evil or something but they aren't.

[Lesa Loves Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need no cats showing up here but if one appears, I hope it's a Star Ka'at! Andre Norton is one of my forever favorite sci-fi/fantasy authors from childhood! Such a treat to discover this delightful middle grade sci/fi book at a random book sale. And it's a Weekly Reader edition too!
I'm wallowing in the nostalgia but that isn't influencing my rating. Space cats and orphan humans... what's not to like?!

note to self: read more Andre Norton!

[JW David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bad Humans! Visiting cats need to be saved before you destroy yourselves, and two children help them.
My mom introduced me to this story, and others, that launched me into pleasure reading for a lifetime.
Andre Norton had written so many great books in her lifetime, and this was definitely one of them.

[Lori Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can anyone not like a book where two alien cats have come back to claim their long lost ancestors and speak to kids through telepathy? Such a fun book. Got this out of the freebie box at McKay's. Love it!