February Meeting Wrap-Up

The Book Buddies Book Club met this past Monday, February 22nd to discuss Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle. It was a terrific meeting made even better by the fact that we were joined by the author!

We began by discussing books with animal main characters and the different format of this book (text, newspaper articles, play scripts). We talked about the personalities of the highway cats and why they were so mean to each other. We discussed Mayor Blunt and why he doesn't consider the consequences of his actions (he doesn't think ahead and is very self-centered, focusing only on re-election).

We talked about the kittens and whether or not we thought they were magical and sent to Potter's Woods for a specific purpose.

Ms. Lisle joined us about half way through our meeting and told us about how her own cats Kayla and Roosevelt were the inspiration for the story by being quiet and keeping her company as she wrote.

We talked about our favorite scenes in the story (many of us liked the final battle scene in the graveyard between the cats and the construction crew) and she read a passage aloud so that we could experience some of the book through her voice.

She currently has no plans to write a sequel to Highway Cats as the future is already foreshadowed at the very end of the story. At the moment, she's working on a historical novel about Newport Island and a spy during the Revolution.

Finally, we talked a lot about taking care of nature and noticing the natural world all around us. There's more out there than we see and we're often blind to how we are hurting nature. The animals in real life can't talk to tell us how we are causing them harm and destroying their homes. It's very important that we all try to be more observant and respectful of mother nature.

It was a fantastic meeting and we want to say a BIG thank you to Ms. Lisle for taking the time to visit with us. It was an afternoon we'll never forget!

Janet Taylor Lisle and me!