EXCERPT

Under a house near farms and trees, Mama Cat has her kittens. It’s a very cold winter night, but she has found herself a warm place. She lives under the floor of the people’s house, right beneath their kitchen. It’s warm because the hot air from the people’s heat blows by in a big metal tube. Mama Cat made her home where she did because it was so warm there. She crawled under the house through a hole in the boards. She feels pretty safe underneath, and even has a soft place to lie down.

The kittens are coming now! They are being born! First is Stripey, who has stripes like a tiger. Stripey looks just like her mother. They both have white bellies with black and brown stripes on their backs. Next comes Stump. Stump looks a lot like Stripey, except that he has a very short tail. His tail isn’t long, like most cats. In fact, he almost has no tail at all, which is how he gets his name, Stump. And last, last comes Smudge, who is smaller than his brother and sister and who looks very different from them. Smudge is almost all white with just a few small black splotches and smudges. One of the splotches is right on his nose. It’s a big smudge, for a little kitten named Smudge.

The kittens are born with their eyes closed and can't see anything. They are also very hungry. Even though they can’t see, they make their way to their mother’s belly to eat. They know right where to go and all of them soon find a place and settle down to drink their mother’s milk. Mama Cat’s family is all here, and she has a lot of work to do. Her little kittens can’t do anything for themselves. Mama Cat has to do everything for them. When she isn’t sleeping or watching them, or feeding them milk, she must hunt for her own food. Even though it’s dangerous to leave the kittens alone, she has to eat to keep strong.

So Mama Cat hunts as best she can. She doesn’t hurry when she hunts, because if she hurried, she’d never catch a thing. Hunting takes time, and patience. She crouches down in the tall grass. She pounces. Feathers fly. She’s caught a bird and quickly eats it, then trots off for home. On her way, she crosses the big grassy field, where she finds a puddle of water. She laps up some water with her tongue, then runs home. She slips through the hole in the boards and goes under the house. Her kittens are there, safe in the den. When the kittens smell her, they all cry, “Mew, mew, mew.” They are very hungry and need to be fed. Mama Cat lies down beside them, and soon they are quiet, with their bellies full.

At night, it is so cold outside. The cat family huddles all together in one big fur ball. Living under the house next to the heat is good though. Their den protects them from the cold and from the wind and rain.

Mama Cat wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night.

She heard a noise. Something is scraping and scratching on the boards at the door to her den. Something is out there and it is trying to get in. Being a cat, she can see very well in the dark. She sees a nose poke through her door. “Yelp, yelp!” it says, when it smells the cats inside. “Bark, bark,” it goes as it scratches at the boards. The dog sticks his whole head through. Mama Cat backs away from the dog, but at the same time, she arches her

back up, making herself look twice as tall. And, her fur stands straight on end, making her look a lot bigger than she is. She screams at the dog, “Yaarrwww!” The dog pushes closer. Mama Cat jumps at the dog. She hits him on the nose with her claws. The dog yelps, “Yaallp!” and he scrambles out of the hole and runs away. He is in no mood to fight a wild cat with sharp claws like Mama Cat has.