Big Cats, Small Cats: Cats From 'A' to 'Z'

About the Book

This work has three major sub-goals: first, to give a history of cats in general from earliest recorded times to the present. Second, to cover 26 different cats (or cat species) in alphabetical order, so the reader has a representative feline for each of the alphabet's 26 letters. Third, to accomplish these ends through poetry.

The poetic mode was chosen to give reader a little different slant on each covered cat's special qualities and temperament. An additional prose portion gives the reader a straightforward description of each cat's natural territory and a brief coverage of its special talents and challenges. The overall goal was to make learning about cats both fun and educational and make us more fully appreciate our feline friends.

About the Author

Calvin N. Smith is a retired professor of Speech-Communication, having spent his teaching career at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

He was raised in Idaho and, after earning his B.S. in Education at Idaho State College, gained a Master?s degree from Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. from Purdue.

As a youth, his main association with cats was with the farm seeker-of-rodents variety. It wasn?t until he retired that he became interested in the whole spectrum of felines.

His interest was greatly sparked by his enjoyment of T. S. Elliot?s Old Possum?s Book of Practical Cats and its subsequent stage adaptation, Cats.