Zach McGuckin’s Book Review

The book I chose to read was The Story of The Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her To Fly written by Luis Sepulveda. This book was written and first published in Chile where Sepulveda is from. I really enjoyed reading this book and it was pretty easy to read. It’s in no means a picture book, but there is a nice cleverly thought out picture at the start of each chapter to kind of guide you in what’s upcoming. The chapters are also nicely paced, and I was able to read the entire book in one sitting without too much trouble. The book focuses on really one main character, a black cat named Zorba, and the people she meets along the way. Zorba is a port cat, meaning she was birthed at the port, and is now owned by a young boy who takes great care of him. The story leads off with the story of a seagull named Kengah and her travels for hibernation. Along the way however as she is getting some fish for food, she is entrapped by an oil spill that covers her entire body. Sepulveda goes into detail on the horrors of oil for birds by saying “With their wings immobilized, stuck fast to their bodies, gulls are easy prey for large fish. Or they may die more slowly, suffocated by the oil that sinks through their feathers and clogs their pores.” (Sepulveda, 10). Kengah however is her last efforts manages to fly out of the oil spill and lands on the proch of where Zorba lives. This is where Kengah believes she is going to die and births an egg for Zorba to take care of, with asking Zorba ““And promise me that you will teach it to fly,” Kengah gasped, staring directly into the cat’s eyes.”(Sepulveda, 26). Zorbah fights to keep Kengah alive by enlisting the help of cats all over. Through this search Sepulveda shows the value of freindship by ““We will all go. The problems of one cat of this port are the problems of all the cats of this port,” the Colonel declared solemnly.”(Sepulveda, 33). The cats find their way to a cat named Einstein. Sepulveda goes into detail on how Einstein is a “book worm” which is a huge sign of anthromorphism because the author is giving this cat the ability to read, “The other mascot was Einstein, a small, slim, grey cat that devoted most of his time to studying the thousands of books in Harry’s collection.”(Sepulveda, 37). Sepulveda also shows off some humor by showing that some cats are clearly not as smart, by having Zorba’s Colonel friend say ““So show us this enplyco… enclididia… the thing,” the Colonel humphed.”(Sepulveda, 42). But even with this humor, Sepulveda still touches on a very important and serious issue and that’s the oil spill. Oil spills contaminate the waters that they happen in, and kill a lot of wildlife that belong and live near those sources. At one point Sepulveda touches on this by saying “Humans, unfortunately, are unpredictable. Often it’s with the best intentions that they cause the greatest damage.”(Sepulveda, 58). That quote was strong because it’s true. Humans have no intentions of spilling oil or harming the animals, they are jsut trying to transport the oil to other countries, but sometimes it happens. Throughout all Zorba’s efforts, he was not able to save Kengah. The story does however have a happy ending, the egg does hatch and Zorba names the bird Lucky. Zorba helps raise Lucky and by the end of the story, Zorba is able to fulfill the last promise that Kengah asked for, and that was to teach Lucky to fly. Lucky does fly, over the country of Hamburg where this story takes place, and it’s a beautiful ending to a great story. Sepulveda takes a tough topic like oil spills and the terrible effect they can have on wild life, and makes a beautiful story. The anthromorphism throughout the story makes the reader feel in tune with the characters and a wide range of emotions. With humor, sadness, hope, and happiness, the story truly goes through the entire range of what makes a story great. It really was a great way also to just show the true travesty that exists when it comes to oil spills and the effects it can have on the wild life in that area. We see commercials and articles written about oil spills all the time and how bad they are, but having that connection with the animal involved and having a story written about it really brings the issue to life in a way that I feel like kids would enjoy and appreciate as well. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone, but especially those that love cats and wild life.

Works Cited:
Sepulveda Luis. The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly. Alma Books, 2016.