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>se Siamese Cat

Cat and MouseBy George Daugherty

Illustrations by Josie Yee

Gretchen Schields, Creative Consultant

Based on the screenplay Cat and Mouse written by George Daugherty.

Illustrations based on storyboards by Kevin Currie.

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If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen

property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the

author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."

No part of this work may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to

Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

ISBN 0-439-45598-7

Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, is produced by CineGroupe Sagwa Inc. in association

with Sesame Workshop based on the book "The Chinese Siamese Cat" written by Amy Tan

and illustrated by Gretchen Schields. © 2003 CineGroup Sagwa Inc. Characters and Original

Story © 1994 Amy Tan. Illustrations © 1994 Gretchen Schields. "Sagwa" and its logo

are trademarks of Cinegroup Sagwa Inc. All rights reserved.

The "See it on PBS KIDS" logo is a trademark of the

Public Broadcasting Service and is used with permission.

Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are

trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

12 11 10 987654321 34567 8/0

Printed in the U.S.A.

First printing, November 2003

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Sagwa was playing hide-and-seek with her good friend Shei-Hu the

mouse. Dongwa, Sheegwa, and Shei-Hu's mouse friends were playing,

too. They raced up and down the halls of the palace.

Sagwa spotted Shei-Hu hiding behind a vase. She crept up and surprised him.

"Ha-ha! You're ft!" Sagwa giggled. "You're it! You're it!"

"Come out, everybody!" called Sagwa. "Shei-Hu is ft!"

"All right, already." Shei-Hu sighed. "You don't have to rub it in. I'm 'it.' I got ft."

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Everyone came out of their hiding places.

"Let's play again!" said Sagwa. "Ready, set . .

.

"

But before she could say "go," they heard foot-

steps coming down the hall. It was the Foolish

Magistrate and his wife heading their way!

'Everybody hide!" Dongwa called.

"We're not supposed to play in here!"

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The Foolish Magistrate and Tai-Tai walked into the room. Tai-Tai

scrunched up her face and sniffed the air.

"I do believe I smell little mice," she said. She sniffed the air again. "And

little kittens, too."

Tai-Tai peered behind a nearby vase and shrieked loudly. "I knew it!

Mice! Cats! In my beautiful palace! Get out!"

Tai-Tai's scream was so piercing that ALL the mice and cats were startled

out of their hiding places. They dashed around the room.

The Foolish Magistrate jumped up on a chair and started shrieking, too.

"Do something!" Tai-Tai yelled at her husband.

"Shoo! Shoo!" the Foolish Magistrate yelled from up on his chair.

The cats and mice scattered. Sagwa and Sheegwa didn't stop running until

they reached the alley behind the palace.

The Alley Cat was there with two friends. They were the "cool cats."

Sagwa tried to look cool, too.

"So, what have you two been up to?" the Alley Cat asked.

While Sagwa was trying to think of something cool to say, Sheegwa

piped up. "We've been playing hide-and-seek!" she said, giggling.

The Alley Cat laughed. "Hide-and-seek! Was that fun, Sagwa?" he asked

sarcastically. His friends laughed, too.

Sheegwa blurted out, "Yes, it was fun. We were playing with our

friends the mice!"

"Mice!" The Alley Cat laughed again. "What kind of cats are friends

with mice? Cats and mice are not supposed to be friends. What are

A mouse lover? Hey! This cat's a mouse lover!"

"Leave my sister alone!" said Sagwa.

"Sure, whatever," said the Alley Cat. "But Sagwa, mice are not our

friends. Cool cats do not play with mice. Cats are smarter than mice.

Cats are better than mice."

The Alley Cat pointed a paw at Sagwa. "If you ever want to be a cool

cat like us, you'll have to get rid of your mice friends." And with that

the three alley cats left.

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"They don't know what they're missing," Sheegwa said with a shrug of hershoulders. "Let's go find Shei-Hu and play some more."

"I don't feel like playing anymore," Sagwa replied.

"OK. But you're going to miss all the fun." Sheegwa scampered back to

the palace.

Sagwa thought about what the Alley Cat had said. She really liked

Shei-Hu— he had been her friend for a long time. But, on the other paw,

she did want to be a cool cat.

Sagwa was thinking so hard that she didn't notice at first that Shei-Hu

had walked up.

"Hey, Sagwa," said the little mouse, "the palace is empty now, so let's go play

some more hide-and-seek!"

"No thanks," said Sagwa. "I don't feel like it."

Shei-Hu was surprised. "What's wrong, Sagwa?" he asked.

Without thinking about it, Sagwa blurted out, "I'm a cool cat. And cool

cats don't play with mice!" And with that, she darted away.

But Sagwa didn't feel like a cool cat. She felt like a mean cat. She ran down

to the pond, where she found her best friend, Fu-Fu the bat.

"Ai-ya — why the long face?" Fu-Fu asked.

"Those cool alley cats told me that a cool cat would never be friends with

mice. They said cats are better than mice."

The alley cats didn't sound very cool to Fu-Fu, but he let Sagwa finish.

"The Alley Cat told me that I shouldn't be friends with anyone who is

different than I am. Is that true?" Sagwa asked Fu-Fu.

"Well, what do you think?" Fu-Fu replied.

"I don't know what to think," answered Sagwa.

"Did those cats mention bats, too?" asked Fu-Fu. "Because cats and

bats are also different."

Sagwa didn't understand.

"If you listen to that Alley Cat, then you can't be friends with me, either,"

said Fu-Fu

"But you're my best friend!" said Sagwa.

"Exactly. And Shei-Hu is your good friend, too," continued Fu-Fu.

"And yet, we're both different from you."

"I hadn't thought about it like that," said Sagwa.

"The alley cats are wrong," Fu-Fu explained. "You can be friends with

whomever you want, Sagwa. It's up to you, not the alley cats.

"You can even be friends with the frogs," Fu-Fu continued, "as long as

you're always my friend, too!"

Sagwa and Fu-Fu did a bat/cat high five and laughed.

"Always," said Sagwa. "Friends forever!"

Sagwa waved as Fu-Fu flew away. And then she thought of

Shei-Hu. She owed him a big apology. And she knew just where to

find him — sitting by his mouse hole in the palace hallway. Helooked sad and lonely.

"Hi, Shei-Hu," said Sagwa.

"I thought you didn't want to play with me anymore," said the

sad little mouse.

"What I said was wrong," said Sagwa. "I'm very sorry that I hurt

your feelings, Shei-Hu. You are my friend."

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A tiny mouse smile began to appear on Shei-Hu s face.

"Friends?" Sagwa asked Shei-Hu hopefully, holding out her paw.

"Friends!" said Shei-Hu, placing his tiny mouse paw in her cat paw.

"And you know what else?" Sagwa said as she reached out and tapped him

on the shoulder. "Tag! You're it! Let's play hide-and-seek!"

"Cool!" said Shei-Hu.

"Yes, you are," said Sagwa.

Sagwa loves to play hide-and-seek with her

friend Shei-Hu, a mouse. But then the Alley Cat

tells her that cool cats don't play with mice.

Sagwa wants to be a cool cat, but does that meanshe'll have to give up her friends? And what

really makes someone cool anyway?

ISBN Q-M3T-M55TA-7

Based on the book

'XKe C-Kmese Siamese (Z~c\\"

written by Amy Tan with illustrations by Gretchen Schields.

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