Whittington

Armstrong, A.  (2005).  Whittington.  New York: Random House.

This book earned the John Newbery Honor Medal in 2006.

When Whittington came into the lives of all the animals in Bernie's barnyard, he just wanted a place to live out of the cold.  Lady, the Muscovy Duck who was in charge, convinced the others to allow him to stay.  They all found out he was a direct descendent of Dick Whittington's famous cat.  Most of the animals in the barnyard were pets that other people couldn't feed or didn't want any more.  They brought the animals to Bernie and he would bring them home.  Of all the animals in the barn, the rats learned to respect Whittington the most, but he had to earn that respect.  He would trick them and catch them and threatened them with their lives if they didn't let the other animals alone.  He would get everyone's attention when he told the story of his famous ancestor cat.  The only human contact with the animals were Bernie and his grandchildren, Abby and Ben. Abby was older by two years and Ben was dyslexic.  Abby was to teach young Ben to read because he had so much trouble with it.  Each day the list of words grew that Ben could remember and each day the story of Dick Whittington's cat continued.  By the time Summer was over Ben was reading much better and the cat's story was complete.  The stray cat that young Dick Whittington had found was worth a fortune to those people who had rat trouble.  Fitzwarren, the man who had given Dick a place to stay, was fast becoming very fond of him.  In the end, Fitzwarren left everything he owned to Dick, the cat was lost at sea and Dick brought home two of her kittens.  He married Mary Green, daughter of Sir Louis.  They had a daughter, but he outlived them both.  He gave all of his fortune away to the poor to improve living conditions in the slums of London.

The story makes you think of people in hopeless situations.  Dick was destitute until he made it to London to find his fortune.  Whittington was lost until he found the animals in the barnyard.  It was a story of the lost being found.