The Cat at the Wall

by Deborah Ellis

A remarkable and thought-provoking new novel set on Israel’s West Bank, by the author of  The Breadwinner . On Israel’s West Bank, a cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house that has just been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards. Should she help him? After all, she’s just a cat. Or is she? It turns out that this particular cat is not used to thinking about anyone but herself. She was once a regular North American girl who only had to deal with normal middle-school problems ― staying under the teachers’ radar, bullying her sister and the uncool kids at school, outsmarting her clueless parents. But that was before she died and came back to life as a cat, in a place with a whole different set of rules for survival. When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don’t know what to do with him. Where are the child’s parents? Why has he been left alone in the house? It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching. Not my business, thinks the cat. And then she sees a photograph, and suddenly she understands what happened to the boy’s parents, and why they have not returned. And as the soldiers begin to panic, and disaster seems certain, she knows that it is up to her to diffuse the situation. But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do?

Genres: Middle Grade, War, Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Canada

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Deborah Ellis has achieved international acclaim with her courageous and dramatic books that give Western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in developing countries.

She has won the Governor General's Award, Sweden's Peter Pan Prize, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California's Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award.

A long-time feminist and anti-war activist, she is best known for The Breadwinner Trilogy, which has been published around the world in seventeen languages, with more than a million dollars in royalties donated to Street Kids International and to Women for Women, an organization that supports health and education projects in Afghanistan. In 2006, Deb was named to the Order of Ontario.

Reviews

[Sally906 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The little cat that is the narrator of the story is not your typical cat. This cat is Clare, or was Clare rather, as Clare is apparently dead and cat is her reincarnated form. The cat tells of how she just woke up a cat on the wall between Israel and Palestine, retaining her memories of her former human life – and how she has to hunt for food and evade other cats that beat her up. Life for a cat on a warfront is portrayed very well, and a clever way to get the reader to understand the issues and see the humanity of both sides. In the news reports you just get to see the atrocities, without a thought for what drives people to these actions. I still don’t sympathise with cruelty from either side – but do understand to a small extent why they might happen. So the little cat tells two stories – the story of the boy and the soldiers, and the story of Clare’s life just before she arrived in cat form.

Towards the end the little cat ponders its future – is life here temporary and she just needs to do some good deed before she can continue onto heaven? Is ‘Clare’ in a coma back in the USA and this is all a crazy dream? Will she be a cat forever? These are unanswered questions; long after the adventure is finished the reader gets to contemplate what they would like the final outcome to be. My view? I’d go for the coma theory – but I would have liked a finite answer to the little cat’s fate.

The Cat at the wall simplifies the complex issues between the two warring parties and wil help younger teens understand, a little, of why this is happening today. There is a balanced mix of adventure, drama and history. The escalating violence being tempered by the point of view of the little cat:

"…If people insist on shooting other people, they should do it quietly so that a cat can have a decent nap…"

The Desiderata poem plays an important part as it links the two children together, past American girl and present Palestinian boy both know the poem well – for one it is comfort, the other torture. Here is the poem:


Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful.

Strive to be happy.



With thanks to Allen & Unwin and the author for this copy to read and review.

[Skip · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointment. The book is narrated by a cat trapped in a Palestinian house on the West Bank commandered by two Israeli solders, where a young Arab boy is hiding. The cat is a reincarnated young girl from the U.S., and the narative goes ack and forth between the circumstances of her unfortunate death and escalating tensions once the neighbors surround the house. It did not work for me.

[mg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A spoiled, eighth grade brat finally learns some of life's hard lessons when she dies and is reincarnated as a cat in Palestine.

Yeah, it's a weird premise, but Deborah Ellis does a better job with it than I was expecting. It may be difficult for children to understand if they don't know anything about the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict? There are a few acronyms that aren't explained (IDF) and could be confusing. I think it's a good opener for kids to learn about the occupation, though.

I'm sure someone would make the case that it has a Palestinian bias (I would argue that it doesn't have enough), but I think she did a good job of making some of the characters on both sides of the conflict have a certain humanity. (Also, she did a great job of making the IDF soldier a real ass.) "You Americans come over here and join the IDF and think it's the Wild West. It's not that simple" (pg. 19) There is a lot that can be picked apart in a book discussion group. I doubt there are many middle graders who would pick it up and really understand all of it without some guidance, though.

[Umaima Salah · Rating 2 out of 5]

too both sided for my liking but my hearts breaking for the kids of Palestine

[Barb Middleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thirteen-year-old American girl dies in a car accident and is reincarnated as a cat living in West Bank in the midst of the Israeli-Pakistan conflict. I know. Bizarre premise. But the author pulls it off and the plot is not about religion - it's about redemption. It's about getting a second chance to do the right thing and doing it even though you are a cat. It's a sad story about a girl that blames herself for her grandma's death and bullies those around her to feel secure and powerful. It's about the choices made in life and knowing when to act for hate or peace. You'll have to try this quirky book yourself. While sometimes the teacher got a tad preachy, it has a good mix of action and deep-thinking. Surprising, because it is only 150 pages.

Two Israeli soldiers, Simcha and Aaron, break into a Palestinian house to spy on the neighborhood. Clare, the cat, sneaks in with them and finds a boy, Omar, hidden under the floor. When the two soldiers find him they try to sneak out with him, but their plan is foiled when they get discovered by villagers. The tension escalates when they start firing bullets at each other. Because the point of view is from a cat, the violence is buffered by the creature's nonchalant attitude, "If people insist on shooting other people, they should do it quietly so that a cat can have a decent nap." Simcha is somewhat stereotyped as the California surfer dude. I would have liked him and Aaron fleshed out a little more. Omar recites the Desiderata poem to control his fear. It is a poem about being happy and treating others fairly and says that fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Alternating with this tense situation is the cat, Clare, having flashbacks to when she was a girl and having problems at school. We find out that Clare lacked character and motivation. She wasn't responsible or honest or kind. A new teacher tried to get her to see the value in character but most of the year was just a power struggle. The teacher made students copy Max Erhmann's Desiderata poem as punishment. While this is not generally how character education is taught today, I see why the author used it to tie it in with the alternating plot. It shows Omar using the poem as comfort in contrast to the self-centered, bully Clare. When Clare thinks about why she took the girls wallet instead of returning it to her it is the first time she questions why she does things "without thinking." At the end when she looks at how the universe is unfolding she thinks it is wrong that she should be alive and her good-hearted grandma dead.

Omar has built an elaborate "City of Dreams" out of cardboard, his refuge and desire for a safe world from his war torn one. Simcha, the American, comes in and kicks down Omar's city not realizing what it was. The author seems to suggest that the United States oftentimes flexes its muscles without thinking of consequences. More importantly, it ties in with the theme of understanding context before taking action. Tragedy results from fears and misunderstandings throughout this story. The teacher doesn't understand the context of Clare's misbehavior. The Israeli soldiers don't understand the context of the boys parents at check point. Simcha and Aaron don't understand why Omar is alone. Clare realizes that hostility and fear create paranoia that will lead to certain death for others and she decides to change the context. It is the first time she chooses to do something because she cares. A terrific novel for studying character development and discuss current events.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

My 6th Grader brought this home because it had been nominated for a Red Maple Award. The book is insulting to Israelis, Palestinians and its readers. It's basically the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad, but for the Israel-Palestine conflict.
(1) It is the embodiment of white privilege - The conflict is treated like a life lesson for a spoiled North American kid. So, in the end, a poor brown kid's suffering all served the purpose of teaching life lessons to a wealthy white kid. How can the lesson of the book be for Clare to be less self-centred, if every other piece of the narrative only exists to serve her?
(2) It's got a white saviour complex - A cat solves a conflict between IDF soldiers with tanks and Palestinian rioters. Because Kendall Jenner ran out of Pepsi? I mean, yes, technically it was a cat that saved the day, but the cat was a white, North American kid, magically succeeding where 50 years of skilled diplomacy has failed.
(3) It is almost flippant about how very grim the conflict is. The light tone might work for a kid in Pennsylvania learning that she's incredibly self-centered and spoiled, but it's not how any Israelis or Palestinians I know talk about the violence and fear they've seen.

The book is only 150 or so pages, and is a very easy read. The book makes so many references to little bits of history about the conflict, that my daughter, who was reading it without any context, completely didn't understand. At the same time, the book is not likely to appeal to high school students who might watch the news more and have some understanding of the conflict. The one good thing I can say about it, is that it doesn't paint either Israelis or Palestinians in black and white.

[Paula · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a dumb book.

Checklist for a dumb book:

Set the book in a real, complex place that is ravaged by bloodshed and sorrow and tell the reader nothing about it.

Limit yourself to four characters. One is a cat (the narrator!). One is a boy who doesn't really have a speaking part. One is a good and true soldier, a fine man, perhaps. The last is an ugly American by birth, now taking an unwanted stint in the Israeli Defense Force. If you want character traits, stick to good and evil (venial): good boy, good soldier, bad cat, bad soldier.

Don't give the reader more than the barest hint of the soldiers' mission.

Ensure that the narrator is wholly unlikeable. In this case, the narrator isn't a nice cat, and we get to hear about how, prior to being a cat, she was a girl -- an obnoxious child by her own unremorseful account.

Throw in a couple bit parts for teachers, one who could only have existed a century ago (assuming she's human) -- that's Mrs. Zero, and one who is sweet and heroic beyond your wildest dreams.

Be careful not to let anything happen until the book is 70% over. And when the book draws to its conclusion, try to make it too-little-too-late.

Follow these simple rules and you will write a dumb book.

[Rachyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt this was an interesting story around perspective and human nature. The hurdles of language and religious beliefs that separate us, that we use as defining characteristics of our identity are just facts. They don't alter the humanity of anyone on one side or the other, and there's plenty of similarities across these cultural divides. I thought this book opened up these themes quite well for discussions with young audiences as there is crossover between North American perspective alongside the Palestinian and Israeli - drawing further parallels to what NA children experience.
The characterization of Clare was quite well done. She's selfish and rude and everything, so it might be due to that that the other characters in the book didn't seem as complex. But her voice was very strong and engaging.

[Shunrei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Acquistato per curiosità (mia figlia di 9 anni aveva chiesto storie di gatti), è stato una lettura davvero sorprendente e piacevole anche per me che di anni ne ho 42 (lo abbiamo letto insieme la sera, prima della buonanotte).
Affronta diversi temi parecchio "seri" (bullismo, conflitto israeliano-palestinese, morte, responsabilità) facendo riflettere (per il momento forse più me di mia figlia, che probabilmente non ha colto tutte le sfumature... Ma spero che lo riprenda in mano da sola tra qualche anno), e il particolare punto di vista della "speciale" protagonista è anche il punto di forza del racconto.

[Madi Mustafa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the message of peace and the journey through the events leading to Clare’s death. However, the depiction of Palestinians as basic stereotypes with no character development in any of them was disgusting to me. Also I hated how the soldiers were humanized more than the teenage boys in this book. It definitely goes with a “both sides are wrong narrative” without acknowledging the injustice faced by Palestinians. The author was able to depict these terrible acts of oppression against Palestinians but gave no insight, as though it was just an afterthought.

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my blog at http://dickenslibrary.blogspot.ca/201...

I'm not going to lie to you. This is a disturbing book. Then again, Deborah Ellis has never been shy to take on difficult topics.

It starts out innocently enough. Clare, our narrator, begins by telling us that she died and came back as a cat. Then she proceeds to say that something happened a few days ago that she can't stop thinking about.

Initially, Clare was a thirteen year old girl who lived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She was hit by a truck, and after a period of darkness, woke up in the body of a cat in Bethlehem, Israel. After being chased by a group of other cats she ended up in a one room house with two young Israeli soldiers and one younger palestinian boy.

Clare as a cat, watches and takes part in the scenario taking place in the West Bank. Throughout this she reminisces about her life as that girl back in the United States. In her last year of school Clare ended up with a teacher, Ms. Sealand, whom she couldn't trick or manipulate. Ms. Sealand caught Clare numerous times behaving cruely to other classmates and adults, which lead to many detentions. For detention, Ms Sealand had students copy out, by hand, the poem, Desiderata. This poem plays a significant part in knitting Clare's past and present life together.

Through Clare, the cat, we get to know more about these two young soldiers and the young Palestinian boy. They are complex characters who appear to be caught up in circumstances beyond their ken. While the young boy says little, he crafts a miniature city out of recycled materials, and when he is worried or afraid, he rocks and recites the Desiderata.

I'm thankful that Ellis portrayed so much humanity in all of these characters.

Tension mounts when the soldiers are discovered; first by the boy's teacher and classmates who have come to see why he didn't come to school, then by rock throwing boys and eventually, the Israeli army.

To be honest, I thought Clare was a self centered, nasty character then, and is marginally less noxious in her life as a cat. There is something sociopathic about her in both of her incarnations. At the same time as tiny glimmers of humanity emerge as intimations of guilt, she also takes pleasure in making other people around her miserable.

Somewhere in the middle of this read I anticipated that Clare would have her eyes opened and end up with an aha moment whereupon she would wake in a coma back in a hospital in America a changed person.

I was wrong.

I suppose Clare does manage to transform a bit. I won't tell you how she does it, but suffice to say, she actually does something good for others. This ending takes us back to the beginning where she states, "I can't stop thinking about it, and I'm not used to thinking very much about things."

I feel like I need to have another read of this book. It is a superb representation of what it must be like to live in the world of the West Bank, but there is more about Clare's character that I think I might be missing - her stubborn recalcitrance is perhaps symbolic of people trapped in that seemingly never ending struggle. Perhaps her eventual questioning and wondering reflect optimism for some kind of Peace in the Middle East. I sure hope so.

[Mena D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I currently finished reading and interesting and a mysterious book called “The Cat At The Wall”, and it is by Deborah Ellis. It is a fiction book about a girl named Clara who died and then after turned into a cat. Clara thinks it was Ms. Zero’s fault that she died. After all that, she sneaks into a Palestinian home, were there was two Israeli soldiers. Nevertheless, when she got into the house, she saw a little boy hiding under some floorboards. Clara doesn’t know if she should help the little boy or not. Nevertheless, if she still helps the little boy, Clara is still a cat.



“The Cat At The Wall” has a little weakness. The reason why I am saying that is because it doesn’t say how Clara turned into a cat. For example in the text it says: “...I died when I was thirteen and came back as a cat. A stray cat in strange place, very far from home. One moment I was walking out of my middle school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Then there was a period of darkness, like being asleep. When I woke up, I was in Bethlehem- the real one. And I was a cat…” So my question is did someone turn her into a cat, or did a spell turned her into a cat, or did Ms. Zero turned he into a cat? I struggled understanding how Clara turned into a cat. How I felt as I read this book is like I couldn’t wait to read the next part, and I wanted to keep on reading.



I give this book a rating or four out of five. It's because, it is a good book, and it describes how everything happened at the scene. It also makes you picture it in you mind or draws a picture in your mind how it is like in certain situation. However, it sometimes doesn’t describe some other parts throughout the story. For example what I said before when it doesn’t say how really Clara turned into a cat. Now into conclusion, the reason why I shared this book with you it's because it makes you understand how war was like in Israel back then. It also made me understand how devastating it is to loose you parents when the never come back. However, it's still a good book.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In search of food and companionship, a stray cat slips into a tiny house in Palestine as two Israeli soldiers decide to use it as a base for surveillance. It turns out that the house is not as empty as the soldiers had thought it was, and the soldiers don’t know what to do with Omar, the boy who has been hiding there. One event leads to another, and before they know it, the men are not as hidden as they thought they were. Omar's teacher and classmates come looking for him, and others come by the house as well. As the soldiers try to find a way out, the house is surrounded by protesters intent on driving them away. As the tension rises and Israeli tanks and planes can be heard approaching the area, it’s clear that things won’t turn out well. After all, there is too much bad history on both sides for the conflict to be resolved peacefully. But the cat was once a thirteen-year-old girl named Clare who fought (and lost) a yearlong battle with the teacher she called Ms. Zero. Clare realizes that her battle was rather pointless, and she has misunderstood many of the events of that turbulent school year. Her selfish and self-absorption is revealed slowly over the course of the book. Apparently, she learned her lesson since the cat dances between the two sides, alleviating the tension so that both sides can go their own ways. “Maybe the world is not completely rotten” (p. 144), she reflects. I like how Ellis reveals secrets about Omar and his family gradually. There is much to consider about the complex issues and complicated history that divide us as well and keep us from getting along. This is an important book for sharing with others and tackling some of these complex issues.

[Delirium · Rating 2 out of 5]

“When I was writing the Cat at the Wall, I thought about what it might be like to be a soldier in this situation- young, away from home, stationed in a place that seems foreign or enemy territory” Imagine what kind of a horrible person and children author you have to be to center your book and vision not on the 8 year old disabled boy but on the occupying soldiers. To humanize them and not the boy. My 12 year old sibling brought this book home and told me hey look at this propaganda. He had read about 50 pages of it and I didn’t understand why he said that. By page 53, I was done with it as well. I hated how a horrible selfish girl and two soldiers that literally broke into a house are more humanized than the little boy. The author talks about bombings and ptsd that the father endures yet never mentions WHO was the bomber? And why should we care about his ptsd more than those who lost limbs and lives being bombed? Aaron, the soldier says his ancestors made “the desert bloom” a common racist phrase Zionists use. It means there was nothing before they came and colonized, completely ignoring how they have destroyed the natural ecosystem of that beautiful “desert” with their invasive European species and how they uproot olive trees. Overall the book was infuriating and zionist propaganda so thinly veiled in liberal ideals that my 12 yr old brother (the intended audience) could see through it. What a horrible soulless book.

[Adele Broadbent · Rating 3 out of 5]

A stray black cat slinks through the night on the edge of the town of Bethlehem. She’s hungry and she doesn’t like being a cat at all. She used to be a 13 year old girl called Clare living in another town called Bethlehem far away.

When Clare is chased through the night by a territorial tomcat, she escapes inside a house as two Israeli soldiers force their way in. They plan to use the house as a vantage point to watch the neighborhood for any enemy movement.

Clare doesn’t care what they are there for, as long as they feed her. She is wily, sneaky and clever, just like she was when she was a girl. As she watches what goes on around her, including discovering a small boy hiding in the little house, she relives what she was like as a girl – in particular her year with her English Literature and History teacher, Ms Sealand. Or Ms Zero as she liked to call her.

But her conflict throughout the year with Ms Sealand helps her in the conflict she now faces with the soldiers. Can she change her ways?

This book includes a Q & A section with the author at the back of the book about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It was an easy but thought provoking read, learning about Clare in two lives.

[هديل · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure about my feelings about this book. The first 50% was really lovely as I loved the idea of the book. But, I didn't like the narrative and the mindset behind it. The book depicts the Zionist Soldiers in a humane way, which I personally don't like considering the balance of power they have against the Palestinians. The narrative favors them and depicts them as "just people" as if they were naive or ignorant to the massacres committed by them. Because no, the Zionist forces don't kill "by accident" and they're not "just following the rules" and even if they were, it's not an excuse to be a sheep to colonial mentality and execution.
3 or even 2.5 stars

[Sheila Bigelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the concept of the narrator being the reincarnation of a thirteen-year-old girl is a bit strange, Deborah Ellis manages to interweave the narratives of the child and the cat into a story of amazing complexity for such a short book. As the girl's much-despised teacher says toward the end, "Context is everything," and perhaps nowhere is that more true than in the West Bank. And I am going to Google Max Ehrmann's poem, "Desiderata."

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth the read - Ellis deals with an impressive many themes in this short book, and does so with fantastic ease. It's a strange premise for a story, but the author does a great job with it, succeeding in making a surprisingly likeable character out of a very bratty eighth-grader and managing to humanise both sides of the conflict. So many good messages in here, and could surely be enjoyed by younger and older readers alike.

[littleprettybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

07/20

Un contexte fort qui aurait pu être traité de façon intéressante mais la situation de guerre est davantage pour l’auteur une façon de transmettre un message de paix de tolérance. Beaucoup de pages développent la vie humaine de l’héroïne et j’ai trouvé que cela rendait le roman moins intéressant, ce qui est dommage.

Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...

[Glizzygobler · Rating 1 out of 5]

this may be the worst book I have ever read, it makes me want to bend over, take a CREAMY shit and then smear it on my cat. Its so much lead of for a bad climax. Legit the creamiest steamiest pile of yellow shit ever put on pages 0/102831928319283 do not read. this is amungst the most un good stuff i have ever seen and makes me want to puke like when i see the cover. Also book is shit

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and thought provoking story. It is not dissimilar to Jennie by Paul Galico, however, of a lesser level. The subject I believe is well above that of the target child/young adult audience.

[Batool · Rating 1 out of 5]

Insert “it’s so bad I wanna give it a zero, but that’s not possible… so I give it a one” sound

[Manisha ⛰️⛰️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pro Israel vibes the book was giving was not really my cup of tea. My heart cries for the Palestinian children.

[Cami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in the Discard pile at my library. The copy was in great condition, so it must not have been circulating well. A sticker covered most of the summary on the back page, but I figured, "It's about a cat in Palestine, right? I'll give it a try." I was flabbergasted to learn that it's an isekai story about a young girl who dies at thirteen and is reincarnated as a cat in Palestine. Add that to the list of plotlines I never saw coming!

I had low expectations going into this book, knowing that it wasn't very popular at my library and being wary of how stories might portray the conflict between Palestine and Israel. But I enjoyed this book quite a bit and was pleasantly surprised overall. It's ironic that the author, Deborah Ellis, says in the Q&A at the end of the book that she made her protagonist a human in a cat's body because she didn't want to write a completely feline character. Yet her protagonist makes the perfect cat, in my opinion. I love how her former bullying attitude shines through in common cat mannerisms, such as staring at random points on the wall just to mess with people.

As for the Israel-Palestine conflict, I wasn't upset by the portrayal at all. Ellis writes the situation in a realistic way, one that lines up with the nonfiction books I've read about the region's history. Plus, her protagonist's flashbacks to her former life introduce relevant themes such as the "Desiderata" poem, whose lyrics underscore underscore how Palestinians deserve to exist and belong in their homes.

My biggest reservation is that I wonder how intelligible this story would be for someone who doesn't know much about the history of Israel and Palestine. Would Ellis' target demographic enjoy this book as much as I did? Perhaps that's why the library was discarding its copy. I would certainly recommend this book to other people my age before I'd recommend it to a middle schooler, not because it's too dark or inappropriate, but because it might not explain Palestine in an understandable way for someone who's never learned about the country before.

[Ιωάννα Μπαμπέτα · Rating 5 out of 5]

Τι ωραίο βιβλίο! Είναι από τις ιστορίες που μένουν χαραγμένες στο μυαλό κι από εκείνες που θα ήθελα να έχω γράψει εγώ.

Ηρωίδα η Κλερ που κάποτε ήταν άνθρωπος αλλά τώρα είναι γάτα. Μια γάτα που τριγυρίζει στη Βηθλεέμ μέχρι που τρυπώνει σε ένα σπίτι Παλαιστινίων. Στο σπίτι αυτό που στην αρχή μοιάζει άδειο, εισβάλλουν δύο Ισραηλινοί στρατιώτες. Κρυμμένο σε μια καταπακτή βρίσκεται ένα εφτάχρονο αγόρι. Η γάτα δεν σκοπεύει να το βοηθήσει. Το μόνο που τη νοιάζει είναι να έχει την ησυχία της και το στομάχι της γεμάτο. Είναι μόνο μια γάτα άλλωστε. Πώς να αλλάξει τον κόσμο;

Όσο για την Κλερ το κορίτσι που πηγαίνει στην τελευταία τάξη του Δημοτικού, όλα αλλάζουν όταν έρχεται μια καινούρια δασκάλα. Κι είναι μια δασκάλα διαφορετική με κανόνες αλλιώτικους. Με συμβόλαια και συμφωνίες που κάνουν έξαλλη την Κλερ. Η Κλερ αντιδρά και φέρεται σκληρά.

Ένα ποίημα εμφανίζεται και στις δυο ιστορίες. Είναι η Desiderata του Max Ehrmann. Ψάξτε το. Δεν ξέρω αν θα σας αλλάξει τη ζωή. Σίγουρα όμως θα σας συγκινήσει. Λόγια αγάπης, φράσεις που μιλούν για τις αξίες και το νόημα της ζωής.

Δυο παιδιά, τόσο διαφορετικά. Το εφτάχρονο αγόρι στη Βηθλεέμ και το δεκατριάχρονο κορίτσι στην Αμερική έχουν κάτι κοινό. Μια δασκάλα που τους δείχνει το δρόμο.

Πολλές οι συγκλονιστικές σκηνές. Οι χαρακτήρες δεν είναι μονοδιάστατοι. Σε αυτή την ιστορία δεν υπάρχουν καλοί και κακοί. Υπάρχουν μόνο άνθρωποι που οι συνθήκες τους κάνουν να ενεργούν με καλοσύνη ή με σκληρότητα. Με φόβο ή με γενναιότητα.

Κάποια πράγματα μένουν ανοιχτά στην ιστορία. Η Κλερ έχει πεθάνει ή τελικά είναι σε κώμα; Τελικά δεν έχει και τόσο μεγάλη σημασία. Στη συγκεκριμένη ιστορία η ζωή κι ο θάνατος είναι πιασμένοι χέρι – χέρι. Ίσως τελικά «τα συμφραζόμενα να είναι τα πάντα», όπως έλεγε και η δεσποινίδα Ζίλαντ. «Αν δεν κατανοήσουμε τα συμφραζόμενα, θα συνεχίσουμε να προσλαμβάνουμε λάθος τα πράγματα».

Πρέπει να διαβάσετε το βιβλίο για να καταλάβετε την αλήθεια που κρύβει αυτή η φράση.

[John Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a girl that was reincarnated as a cat in a Pakistani place after she died in the US. There is a wall that divides two sides of the city, one is light, and one is dark. After she gets trapped in a small house with two Pakistani soldiers, she finds a boy, and alerts the soldiers. They interrogate him, but it's no use. He needs his inhaler. This book does and doesn't hit the sweet spot where I would like to take time to read it. It's interesting and funny, don't forget about that, but I find it repetitive. That's what I think of the book, others may have a different opinion, but it's what I think. Read it if it sounds interesting!

[Dyck House · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really held my attention, in better understanding middle East conflicts.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clare is a pampered, snobbish, conceited bully who dies at age thirteen. She is reincarnated as a cat whose only goal is survival in war-torn Bethlehem. Survival, that is until she finds herself in the home of a Palestinian family now occupied by two Israeli soldiers. Observing and listening to these men, the little boy hiding there and reciting the Desiderata, and the community outside -- people of hatred and people of peace -- bring back memories of her past life. Maybe now she can find an opportunity to redeem herself.

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Cat at the Wall was just plain boring. It kept going from living to cat and just got confusing. I would agree with Clare about Mrs.Zero being a bad teacher to have in grade 8. There was a little to much discipline for that age. I don't understand why Clare was always rude to be family, and others. She had no reason too. I only kept reading the book to see how see died. Aaron, one of the soldiers, was a very nice man. He fed the boy and the cat when they were in the boys house.

[Sevvi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let's leave writing these story's to the people knowing what they are talking about. Wtf einfach nein, komplettes ignorieren eines Genos. Die Soldaten seien auch nur Menschen blah blah blah, nach diesen vergangenen Monaten das zu lesen fühlt sich an wie ein Schlag ins Gesicht. Aber was erwartet man von jemanden die keine Ahnung anscheinend über dieses Thema hat. Komplette Enttäuschung. Einfach Respektlos. Alleine die anderen Reviews sagen alles, vorallem die die es gut fanden.