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Sea-Cat lives at the bottom of the ocean with his mother, a talented specimen who designs and makes the most beautiful jewel-encrusted clothes. The bitter, resentful Dragon King, Lord of the Ocean, also lives at the bottom of the ocean, but is ashamed of his own ugliness and becomes increasingly jealous of Sea-Cat's fine clothes. When they meet, Sea-Cat offers Dragon King a solution to his problems, and with the help of Sea-Cat's mother they make a beautiful jewelled coat that changes absolutely everything.
Sea-Cat and Dragon Kingis beautifully written with the thoughtful, quirky style that made Angela Carter an award-winning author, with glimmering, shimmering prose that combines classic fairy-tale ideals with contemporary twists.
This lovely, lovely book, with its delicate black and white line drawings adding further ripples of interest is ideal for young readers who are just starting to read alone, but is really at its best when read out loud. --Susan Harrison
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-In fanciful and imaginative detail, Carter explains how life under the sea is exactly the same as on land-only different. Because his fur might get soggy and matted, Sea-Cat wears a suit lovingly knitted from the seaweed and jewels that he and his mother have found under the water. When the supremely ugly Dragon King sees the beautifully adorned feline, he kidnaps him to get the garment, but of course it doesn't fit him. Sea-Cat's mother then knits the dragon a suit "truly fit for a Dragon King," replete with the ruby tears he has self-pityingly produced, and now he, too, walks the sea bottom in splendor. While the story is slight, and the triumph of accepting oneself because of beautiful clothes is suspect, it is the friendship the three characters forge that serves the book well. With its big words and turns of phrase (Dragon King in his new suit is "a complete festival in himself alone"), Carter's language will delight children. Tatcheva's squiggly line depiction perfectly suits the author's style, and cat lovers as well as animal-fantasy fans will find much to like in this beginning chapter book.
Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VACopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
