| BASIC INFO | LANGUAGE LEVEL | COMPREHENSION-AIDING FEATURES |
|---|---|---|
| Book Title Bart will eine Katze (Bart wants a cat) Author(s) Senor Jordan and Michael Coxon Illustrator(s) Juan Carlos Pinilla Melo Other Contributors Eva Pusch and Eric Richards (adaptation) Published by TPRS Books (view our statement on TPRS Books) Publication date 2018 Genre Comedy #Ownvoices N/A | From the author/publisher’s website Level 1 Total Word Count N/A | Illustrations YES Glossary YES Guiding Questions NO Context NO Other |
| IDENTITIES PRESENT IN THE TEXT | SYNOPSIS | |
|---|---|---|
| Races, Ethnicities, and Nationalities white Languages spoken German Sex and Genders Male (main character) Female Ages Teenager – main characters Adult Social classes Middle Class | Sexual Orientation N/A Abilities Neurotypical Non-disabled Non-Impaired Religions N/A Family Structures Heteroparental Body Type Non-curvy | From the author/publisher’s website In this book, YOU choose where the story goes. Follow your choices until the very end. How many endings can you find? This book was written with you in mind. You will recognize hundreds of words that look like English words as you read them in German. This book has been written based on Blaine Ray’s Cat Story that was first written in Look, I Can Talk in 1989. Blaine’s first book stressed the importance of making learning languages easier and the experience for students exciting and interesting. The mission of this story is to add innovation to Blaine’s original creation while making it an amazing adventure and reading experience for teachers and students alike. This story is about celebrating the past and never forgetting the focus on the student experience. We hope that each opportunity to make your own story is a fun and funny experience and that readers will want to read and explore each adventure as they acquire German. |
| ILLUSTRATIONS | STORY | SOCIAL JUSTICE |
|---|---|---|
| To what extent do the illustrations present positive and thoughtful representations of identities? There are illustrations on every page done in a cartoonish style that are meant to support reader comprehension. The illustrations do not seem to comment on identities in any specific way. | We understand identities are complex and no single story represents the spectrum of identity-based experiences. Also, a text may address a stereotype, misrepresentation, or generalization without relying on it. Does any stereotype, misrepresentation, or generalization affect any positive and thoughtful representations of identities in the text? | This section is for teachers who are working towards sourcing more texts within the four domains of anti-bias education. We are excited about reading all books and we understand that not all books are written for this specific purpose. Does this text work toward goals within any of the four domains of anti-bias education as defined by Teaching Tolerance? N/A |
| LLLAB’s REVIEW |
|---|
| Bart will eine Katze is a choose-your-own-adventure-style book in which the reader determines the outcome of the story with their choices. The title character, Bart, feels that there is something missing in his life, and thinks that getting a pet cat will help him be happier. Along the way to procure this cat, though, Bart is confronted by increasingly off-the-wall choices and situations in order to turn the story into a comical and fantastical one. Readers may be more engaged by a story in which they have greater choice in the outcome, and the choices themselves typically do not hint at what the related outcome will be, keeping the story unpredictable and engaging. The book sets up moments for Bart to make thoughtful and respectful choices, such as when Bart takes the privacy needs of the cats in the bathroom into consideration before deciding whether or not to enter the bathroom (p. 32). Bart is also challenged in his thinking when he makes stereotypical assumptions of the girls he meets (p. 68). At times, the language is so simplified that it does not sound natural, and may have been Anglicized in the name of comprehensibility.. “Bart akzeptiert eine Katze” instead of “Bart nimmt eine Katze an” (p. 64); “Bart weiss die Adresse” instead of “Bart kennt die Adresse” (p. 22). Additionally, not all words and phrases are included in the glossary and it is unclear how the publisher made the decision to include some terms and not others. It is also unclear why in one storyline, Bart’s enchanted cat becomes an “attractive” girl (p. 41). It does not add to the story, and turns the girl into a damsel in distress. It is worth noting that many of the storylines involve elements of violence, from boxing (p. 26), gangs of bikers (p. 14) or girls (p. 61), getting punched unexpectedly (pp. 43, 51), and ending up in the hospital as the result of his various adventures (p. 20). The situations are not graphic or bloody, though, and seem to heighten the action of the story. View our statement on TPRS Books |
LLLAB 
The title doesn’t match the book that was reviewed. *Richard K Ernst* National Board Certified Teacher of French and German Eagle Hill Middle School Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District Manlius, NY 13104
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Hello Richard, could you explain what you mean? This is the review for “Bart will eine Katze”.
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