Miranda the Great Book

A cat and her family find refuge in the Roman Colusseum when the city is overrun by barbarians.

Ages 9-12

Miranda the Great is a large golden cat with a beautiful singing voice, who lives peacefully with her daughter Punka and a girl named Claudia in ancient Rome. When barbarians burn and sack the city, Miranda and Punka hide and are left behind while the family flees to the country. In an attempt to find a safe place for Punka and her newborn kittens, Miranda finds shelter in the Colusseum. There, she frees a lioness from captivity and in exchange receives milk for her kittens and other rescued kittens from around the city. Miranda eventually finds her family, but must decide whether to go back home with them or remain in the Colosseum to protect her large extended family. In an unusual climax, the cat acts out the process of making this decision by performing a grand opera. This heartwarming story is made more interesting by the setting, and the illustrator, Edward Ardizzone, shows a wonderful feel for animals in his beautiful black and white line drawings, which are reminiscent of Piranesi's prints. Although everything turns out well in the end, it is a bit of a tearjerker and the vocabulary is somewhat advanced, so I would recommend it for ages 9-12.

A Horn Book review from Spring, 2006 is concise, but summarizes the plot like the sentence at the top of this review, and agrees that the illustrations add to the enjoyment of the engaging story. Equally unhelpful was the editorial review on amazon.com, which made it seem as though the story is only about Miranda saving the kittens--it didn't mention the sentimental aspects of the story or the opera scene at the end.