Pyewacket by Rosemary Weir | Goodreads
Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Pyewacket

Rate this book
1968 Abelard-Schuman – Book Club; Picture-Cover Hardcover

123 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Rosemary Weir

47 books5 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
63 (47%)
4 stars
55 (41%)
3 stars
11 (8%)
2 stars
3 (2%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Amanda Baldwin.
7 reviews2 followers
April 30, 2014
My mom gave me this book one summer when I was about 8 years old. I think she picked it up at a garage sale or something solely because it was a book about cats - my two favorite things.

That summer, for me, was the summer of Pyewacket. I read and reread the book until I could recite parts of it from memory. I became certain that my cat could talk and spent hours trying to coax words out of him. When I wasn't doing that, I was pretending that I was a cat. In the end, I'm sure my mother regretted ever laying eyes on the book. I couldn't help it, though. Pyewacket was my hero.

I'm giving the book 4 stars because I haven't reread since I accidentally left my copy out in the rain one day about 20 years ago. I can't say if it would still have the same magic now that it did then, but I know that for me the memories it created are worth it.

So, if you've got a young person in your life who likes reading and cats, and you can find a copy of this book, buy it for them. You may have to put up with caterwauling and demands for milk out of a bowl, but is that really much worse than the sounds of Sponge Bob?
Profile Image for Mia Bailey.
3 reviews4 followers
February 18, 2011
A favorite from my childhood, I've adapted it to a screenplay for an animated film. Wouldn't this be a great film to take the kids too (or to see for ourselves) Mia
Profile Image for Sonja Charters.
1,213 reviews75 followers
July 9, 2022
One of my favourites when I was much younger.

This book possibly started my love of cats (even though at the time, we had dogs!) We've made up for it since and currently have 3 cuties 😺

A brilliant story about a street full of cats who want to 'get rid' of their owners and take over the houses themselves.

Unbeknown to the kitties, the houses are being emptied and demolished to make way for a new factory being built.

Once the houses are empty and the bulldozers move in, the cats start to regret 'getting rid' of the owners. And poor Pyewacket, their leader, gets injured in the demolition.

All ends well though....as the cats get taken into the care of the factory night watchman as official rat catchers and end up well fed, warm and well cared for - yay!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Susann.
720 reviews46 followers
July 4, 2010
When Mrs. Markiewicz read this to my 2nd grade class, I didn't pick up on the English setting, but I appreciated how each cat fit (or didn't) with its owners. My own street reminds me of Pig Lane, with the dodgy bit at one end, and Pyewacket is a worthy ruler of his feline crew.

On the Mrs. M. book selection spectrum, this one doesn't stand up there with Henry Huggins or Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, but it certainly leaves Miss Pickerell in the dust.

Last read: 9-20-04
164 reviews
April 7, 2012
I read this as a kid...and have fond memories......would like to read it again.
4 reviews
August 4, 2008
My favorite book from childhood. If i had kids, they would read it.
Profile Image for Franklin Sellers.
Author 4 books1 follower
August 16, 2016
The very first book I read when I was 10 in 1975!

I can't believe the author is still alive at age 111!
Profile Image for Lori Schiele.
Author 2 books23 followers
August 28, 2017
Although I have this listed as Young Adult, this is actually a Scholastic children's book from when I was in second grade. I came upon a few books in my attic the other day that I had kept for all these years and decided to read them again. I enjoyed reading the book (although it only took about 30 minutes to do so) because it brought back memories of childhood and how excited I would get when we were allowed to choose a book from the Scholastic books catalog.

Pyewacket is the story about a group of cats living in a neighborhood with a scruffy, one-eyed, mangled-eared cat named Pyewacket as their "leader" who lives in the junkyard at the end of Pig Lane (the street where they live). One day, Pyewacket comes up with a plan to get rid of all the humans so they can have the houses to themselves and, with the help of the rats (after calling a temporary truce called The Promise of Pan) they succeed, or have they? All of their owners quickly leave their homes, but then the construction company moves in and starts to tear down their homes... What are Pyewacket and the others, including a kitten and a pregnant female, going to do?
Profile Image for Rebecca.
483 reviews4 followers
October 19, 2020
This book belonged to my brother and me as children, and I read it by chapters at bedtime to the 8YO, who loves cats. He enjoyed it immensely...he thought he wouldn't at first, but by the second chapter he was invested in the story. Two thumbs up.
Profile Image for Edwin Staples.
26 reviews
June 19, 2021
I was slow to read things on my own. This one was sitting on the shelf for some months before I started on it. When I was ten, I read it in an afternoon, and I was on my way. Lovely and sad, and full of lessons about dreams crashing into reality.
2,357 reviews2 followers
July 16, 2017
B-. fiction, children's fiction, grade 4, cat, Weekly Reader Book Club, Mom's stash, discard
Profile Image for Jane.
257 reviews4 followers
February 15, 2018
"Pyewacket" is a good old-fashioned story about a group of cats and their adventures after deciding to live without humans. Both children and adults will enjoy it.
Profile Image for Sheryl.
268 reviews8 followers
February 2, 2020
This is a children's story of a neigborhood of cats who plot to take over their human's houses. It is one of my all time favorite books, and I have two copies so I will be happy to loan one to you.
Profile Image for Kai Blake.
3 reviews
October 10, 2022
My dad gave me this book because he read it as a child and loved it. I loved it because it was about cats and their secret plan and it was full of suspense with a cliffhanger!
Profile Image for Rick Aucoin.
8 reviews
October 22, 2022
Read this book when I was about 12 and it stuck with me like few others. I'm a great-grandfather now and I still remember this story in good detail. In fact my wife recently found a copy of it in good condition and bought it for me since she remembered me mentioning it as a favorite of my youth.
A truly special book.
Profile Image for Angela.
1,773 reviews23 followers
September 20, 2015
I had this book on Mt TBR for so long, I decided to let it go, but then when I was prepping it for release, I changed my mind and read it. It took all of a day (or so). It is a quick little read, and tells the tale of 7 cats living on Pig Lane. I enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Ralph Neville.
22 reviews3 followers
March 17, 2013
Really liked this one, used to read it to my little brother.
When I lived in Phoenix I had a cat just like Pyewacket, big tomcat that liked to fight and he owned the block! He lived a long, rich life.
Profile Image for Agneata.
39 reviews
May 9, 2008
I still have this book. Rather worn but never parted with. From back when Weekly Reader sold hard cover books.
Profile Image for Kim.
437 reviews
September 8, 2011
Wondering if I should have re-read this or just kept it as a favorite childhood memory. Pyewacket is more of a jerk than I remembered...
Profile Image for Gina.
Author 5 books27 followers
July 7, 2014
I read this as a kid who loved cats, so it was a pretty easy win.
Profile Image for Chris.
11 reviews3 followers
November 3, 2014
This was one of my very favorite books as a child, I felt like I was right there on that lane with those cats....The imagination of a child. I just started reading it again.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.