Police Cat

by Enid Hinkes, Wendy Rasmussen (Illustrator)

Overview

Noodles wants to be an official member of the police department more than anything. But the rules won't allow cats on the squad, even if Noodles is the best rat-chaser in the city. Still, Noodles goes out every night and patrols the streets.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807557594
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	01/01/2005
Series:	Albert Whitman Prairie Paperback Ser.
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.19(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

Read an Excerpt

Police Cat

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By Enid Hinkes, Wendy Rasmussen

ALBERT WHITMAN & Company

Copyright © 2005 Enid Hinkes
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8075-5759-4

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CHAPTER 1

There are many cats who do not care if the city is taken over by rats.

At night, when the rats come out, you will find those cats in warm houses, sleeping on pillows and eating food that comes out of little cans ... or hanging out in alleys, meowing and keeping everyone awake.

But not Noodles. He was not that kind of cat. Noodles worked out of the Third District Police Station.

Every night at eleven o'clock—2300 hours in police time—Noodles left the station and went on patrol.

He chased away the rats who hung around the garbage cans.

He checked around the basements of houses to make sure that rats were not sneaking in through holes or broken windows.

He went up and down the streets and alleys of the city, keeping it safe for the children asleep in their beds.

Every morning, when Noodles returned to the police station, he walked past a police car, called the K-9 cruiser, where Truman the police dog sat. Truman jumped up and down and barked. He was always trying to get out of the car to chase Noodles.

Noodles did not pay any attention to the ill-mannered dog. "No dignity," he thought, "and useless. He probably never caught a rat in his life. Police dogs are nothing but squirrel chasers."

Noodles meowed and scratched at the station house door. Sergeant Bowser, the desk sergeant, let him in. Then Noodles curled up to go to sleep in a box underneath a desk where the Commander could not see him.

"Unauthorized!" shouted the Commander whenever he caught Noodles inside the station. Then he would order the officers to throw Noodles out.

Because even though Noodles was the best rat-chaser in the city, he was not an official member of the Metropolitan Police Department.

The police department had K-9 units for dog—sthey even got special police cars and collars—but nothing for cats. Not that any self-respecting cat would wear a collar.

Early one morning, Noodles was on his way back to the station when he saw a pack of rats scamper out through a broken basement window and run down the alley.

"Mischief is afoot," he thought.

Noodles climbed through the broken window into the basement. He smelled smoke. He saw flames in one corner: The rats had chewed a wire and started a fire.

Noodles had to warn the people in the house!

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Police Cat by Enid Hinkes, Wendy Rasmussen. Copyright © 2005 Enid Hinkes. Excerpted by permission of ALBERT WHITMAN & Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

"A fine addition to the growing list of titles about working animals."

Booklist

From the Publisher

Noodles the cat is the best rat chaser in the city. He is the unofficial darling of the Third District Police Station where he has his own box to sleep in under a desk—and out of sight of the Commander. At night he prowls the streets checking basements and windows and seeing to it that all the children are safe. What he really wants is to be recognized like the dogs in the Canine unit who patrol in police cars. After a daring rescue of a family from a burning building, Noodles almost loses the recognition he deserves until the young girl points out that it was not the dog from the Canine unit who should be credited but a "small brown-and-black-striped cat with big ears." For his heroic efforts Noodles becomes the official Metropolitan Police Department Cat complete with his own uniform and the right to answer 911 calls in an official police vehicle. This charming little story will be a hit with cat fanciers who will cheer when Noodles gives the smug dog his comeuppance. It is unfortunate that depicting the likeable cat in a police uniform mugging for his official photograph spoils the realism. The illustrations are rendered in warm tones and accurately reflect the personality of this exceptional cat. 2005, Albert Whitman & Company, Ages 5 to 8.
—Beverley Fahey

Children's Literature

K-Gr 2-Noodles, a tabby, is the unsung rat-chasing hero of the Third District Police Station, where kindly Sergeant Bowser allows him to sneak a catnap under a desk when the Commander isn't looking. Early one morning, the feline rescues a family from a fire and then leaves the scene as Truman, the dog from the K-9 Unit, arrives and receives the credit. The next day, after reading about the heroic pooch in the newspaper, the victims go to the police station to correct the situation. Noodles receives an award and becomes an official member of the department with a uniform and a box to sleep in. Appealing illustrations, feline heroics, and humor (Noodles contemptuously views Truman as having "no dignity" and being "useless") lift the story above the general stock group of books about animals saving lives. Though thoughts are ascribed to him, the tabby doesn't speak and is realistically rendered, adding a flavor of possibility to the tale. Enjoyable but supplemental fare.-Phyllis M. Simon, Bay Shore School District, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal