HIGHWAY CATS by Janet Taylor Lisle Accelerated Reader: Level: 4.8. Pts. 3. Take the Quiz! Book Description: Three kittens abandoned on the median strip of an interstate highway miraculously survive. They meet a loose group of feral cats and help them to band together to save their small patch of homeland woods from being destroyed. Lisle firmly grounds this satisfying fantasy in the present day: the cats encounter the constant traffic of I-95, ever-filling dumpsters behind a shopping center, and a mayor who sees development as a path to reelection. In the tradition of classics such as Sheila Burnford’s The Incredible Journey (1961) and Robert C. O’Brien’s Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971), Lisle shows that she can create and develop animal characters that are just as convincing as the humans in her past works. Particularly well defined is the aging cat Shredder, whose attitude toward the kittens shifts from dispassionate curiosity to avuncular interest and finally a paternal love that opens his heart and allows him to recognize and declare his affection for a beautiful Siamese. The action moves steadily and surely to the climactic showdown with developers’ bulldozers, a scene that begs to be staged. Deftly written and attractively illustrated with chapter-opening silhouettes by Frankland, this is a treat for any reader and would be a delight to read aloud.