Jane on Her Own

by Ursula K. Le Guin, S.D. Schindler (Illustrator)

Overview

Jane has a city adventure in this fourth book in legendary author Ursula K. Le Guin’s bestselling Catwings chapter book series, now with a new look!

Jane, the youngest of the Catwings, thinks that life on the farm is absolutely boring. Looking for adventure, she takes to the skies to explore all the world has to offer. But when she flies through the window of a friendly-seeming human, Jane finds herself captured—and forced to make TV appearances as Miss Mystery, the fabulous winged cat. How can she possibly explore the world now? Is there anywhere Jane can be truly free?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665936682
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/24/2023
Series:	Catwings Series , #4
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	95,358
Product dimensions:	4.80(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) was the celebrated author of twenty-three novels, twelve volumes of short stories, eleven volumes of poetry, thirteen children’s books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. Her acclaimed books received the Hugo, Nebula, Endeavor, Locus, Otherwise, Theodore Sturgeon, PEN/Malamud, and National Book Awards; a Newbery Honor; and the Pushcart and Janet Heidinger Kafka Prizes, among others. In 2014, she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America. Le Guin was also the recipient of the Association for Library Service to Children’s May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. She received lifetime achievement awards from the World Fantasy Convention, Los Angeles Times, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, and Willamette Writers, as well as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award and the Library of Congress Living Legend Award. Her website is UrsulaKLeGuin.com.

S. D. Schindler is the popular and versatile illustrator of many books for children, including Ursula K. Le Guin’s Catwings series; Skeleton Hiccups and Monster Mess!, both by Margery Cuyler; Big Pumpkin and the ALA Notable Children’s Book Don’t Fidget a Feather!, both by Erica Silverman; How Santa Got His Job by Stephen Krensky; and Johnny Appleseed by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benét. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His website is SDSchindlerBooks.com.

Hometown:

Portland, Oregon

Date of Birth:

October 21, 1929

Place of Birth:

Berkeley, California

Education:

B.A., Radcliffe College; M.A., Columbia University, 1952

Website:

http://www.ursulakleguin.com

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1

Editorial Reviews

Gr 1-4-Jane, the youngest of the Catwings felines, hungers for adventure. Life on the farm is just too boring, so she takes flight, ignoring her siblings' warnings that the world is dangerous. Jane enjoys her journey though she finds life away from home less than hospitable. One day she flies through a window into the apartment of a man who feeds her. But, as kind as he is to her, he also sees an opportunity to profit from her unique anatomy. He names her Miss Mystery and soon Jane is a television star-trapped indoors, surrounded by cameras and strangers. Unhappy, she eventually escapes and searches for her mother, who lives in the city. Once found, she and her mother live with a kind old woman who understands Jane's need for a home as well as her freedom. Le Guin's simple text creates a gentle picture of the animal and her world. Schindler's charming, pen-and-ink drawings, filled with colored washes, complement the story, making the marvelous winged cats perfectly believable. Beginning readers and young fantasy lovers will enjoy this satisfying, imaginative tale.-Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

Feeling the need to stretch her wings, young Jane leaves her feline Overlook Farm family to fly back to the city where she was born. There she discovers the truth of her sister Thelma's warning that "being different is difficult and sometimes very dangerous," when a man named Poppa treats her like royalty, but traps her by closing the window. As in the three previous Catwings books (Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings, 1994, etc.), Le Guin's winged creatures are more cat than bird in behavior and outlook: Jane's sinuous grace comes through clearly in Schindler's small, precise paintings. Patiently awaiting her chance, Jane at last slips out an open door, to settle down comfortably with her doting mother, in the apartment of gray-haired Sarah, a different sort of human who, instead of closing the window, opens it wider. Wanderlust, leaving home, the meaning of freedom-these are big themes for such a small book, but the author handles them with the ease of long practice, and the illustrations are just the right mix of the exotic and the familiar. (Fiction. 7-10) .

Kirkus Reviews