Three Samurai Cats: a Story from Japan Retold by Eric A. Kimmel and Illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein

This was chosen for my multicultural book for one reason. It looked absolutely ridiculous! To my surprise, it actually wasn't half bad. In the story, a giant rat moves into a great daiymo (a great feudal lord)'s castle, pestering him and eating all of his food. He immediately leaves for a near by monastery famous for its well trained Samurai Cats! The master of the monastery first sends a young samurai cat eager to help the daiymo, but the rat's martial arts skills prove to be too much for the feline. Then the master sends a bigger and stronger samurai cat that the daiymo is certain will defeat the rat, but the rat still prevails over the strong samurai cat. Then the daiymo demands that the master sends his greatest and most powerful samurai to defeat the rat, but to the daiymo's surprise all that arrives is a frail, old, half blind cat named Neko Roshi. The rat laughs at the daiymo thinking that this is by far the worst warrior the rat has ever seen. For days, all that Neko Roshi does is sleep and eat, while the rat eats and pesters the daiymo. Finally one day the rat takes a misstep and Neko Roshi seases the opportunity by tripping the rat and therefore defeating him. This story was great for three reasons, one it teaches children the importance of not judging someone by their appearance, two, it teaches children to be paitent and wait for the right opportunity, and three, they are SAMURAI CATS! I would suggest it for not only the K-Grade 3 reading level, but also for anyone having trouble in dealing with patience.