Lost and Found Cat: The True Story of Kunkush's Incredible Journey

by Doug Kuntz (Author) Sue Cornelison (Illustrator)

Lost and Found Cat: The True Story of Kunkush's Incredible Journey
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
The true story about one cat's journey to be reunited with his war-torn family.
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School Library Journal

K-Gr 3--An uplifting tale of love, compassion, and new beginnings. Written by two of the volunteers who reunited Kunkush the cat with his family, and with the full cooperation of the family, this account will pull at readers' heartstrings. During a summer night in 2015, not long after the death of her husband, Sura arranged for herself, her five children, and one hidden treasure to be smuggled out of Mosul, Iraq. This treasure was their beloved cat Kunkush, and Sura knew that they couldn't leave him behind--even if that meant keeping him hidden in a small carrier from three smugglers during car and bus rides and hours of hiking through mountains and forests. Unfortunately Kunkush's carrier broke, and after landing in Greece he escaped, devastating the family. Although it took four months, volunteers, the Internet, and a journey spanning thousands of miles, Kunkush and his family were eventually reunited. Cornelison superbly heightens the emotional impact of the story: weathered faces aboard the rubber boat, a doe-eyed Kunkush fending for himself. An author's note, a world map of Kunkush's journey, and photographs of Kunkush being reunited with his family are included. However, oddly, the family's last name is not mentioned, and the text is occasionally clunky. VERDICT A poignant title for large collections looking for refugee stories.--Joy Poynor, formerly at Rogers Public Library, AR

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Doug Kuntz
Amy Shrodes and Doug Kuntz felt compelled to travel to Greece to help with the refugee crisis, each in their own unique way--Amy as a volunteer helping the arriving refugees and raising awareness back at home through a podcast, and Doug as a photojournalist, who spent five months in Greece, Turkey, France, Germany, and finally Norway, bringing the plight of the refugees to people around the globe. When they met Kunkush, they knew he was very special to someone and they wanted to do everything they could to reunite him with his family.

Sue Cornelison graduated with a BFA from Drake University and continued her studies at the International School of Studio Arts in Florence, Italy. Sue has worked as a full-time illustrator for over a decade. She wrote and illustrated The Twelve Days of Christmas in Iowa, as well as illustrated Sofia's Dream, Down by the Bay, You're Wearing That to School?!, and the American Girl Bitty Baby series. Sue works in her backyard treetop studio in a renovated 1909 carriage house in rural Iowa.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781524715502
Lexile Measure
810
Guided Reading Level
M
Publisher
Crown Books for Young Readers
Publication date
December 10, 2019
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF053240 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Social Topics | Emigration & Immigration
JNF003040 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Animals | Cats
JNF019000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Family | General
Library of Congress categories
Cats
Refugees
Emigration and immigration
Iraq
Greece
Pet loss

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