Title: The Cat I Never Named: A True Story Of Love, War, And Survival
Author: Amra Sabic-El-Rayess with Laura L. Sullivan (Contributor)
ISBN: 9781547604531
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Copyright Date: 2020
Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction
Format: Novel
Reading Level/Interest Level: Grades 8-12
Awards or Honors
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist (2021)
Plot Summary
Amra is only sixteen when war comes to her peaceful hometown of Bihac, Bosnia. The year is 1992 and the conflict between Bosnian Serbians and Bosnian Muslims becomes deadly as the Serbs invade Bosnia. Things change quickly for Amra: as a Muslim, her Serbian best friend no longer wants to see her, Serbian soldiers are harassing women on the streets, and tanks begin rolling down the streets. Things finally come to a head when she shows up at school one day and all the Serbian students have fled. Students are sent home that day as the Serbian army officially begins its invasion. The one bright spot in all the chaos is the calico cat that follows Amra home from school, despite her insistence that she does not like animals and that her family can’t take care of a cat. Calling her Maci, the Bosnian word for “cat,” she becomes a comforting presence in Amra’s life.
Amra and her family flee their home to take refuge in a neighbor’s basement where they are forced to take cover for two weeks as bombs fall on their town. When they are finally able to return home, they must survive with no electricity, very little food, and the fear that the time they have left is limited. All the while, Maci continues to keep the family safe and provide them with a little bit of joy during such a devastating time. Amra keeps her spirits up by relying on school, connecting with neighbors, and even sparking up a romance with a young man she keeps running into. Pursuing her education is the one thing that Amra remains dedicated to through the years she and her family survive during the Bosnian genocide. She is eventually able to pursue her dreams of higher education and emigrate to the U.S. on a scholarship, where she continues to connect with her family and send what money she has back home.
Author Background
Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is native of Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a survivor of the Bosnian genocide. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1996, where she attended Brown University and earned a BA in Economics, before achieving two Master's Degrees and a Doctorate from Columbia University (Sabic-El-Rayess, n.d.). Amra currently teaches at Columbia University’s Teachers College, “working on understanding how and why societies fall apart and what role education can play in rebuilding decimated countries” (Sabic-El-Rayess, n.d.). She is beloved by her students and is widely published in the field of education.
Laura L. Sullivan is the writer of a multitude of non-fiction books for teens and children. Her work includes books in the Toxic Creatures series, Distinctions in Nature books, and Unseen Science books, to name a few. She previously worked as a “newspaper editor, biologist, social worker, and deputy sheriff” (Simon & Schuster, n.d.).
Critical Evaluation
This memoir is laid out in a chronological retelling of Amra’s experience during the Bosnian genocide and her emigration to America. Amra has such a clear, authentic voice and is very matter-of-fact about her situation while at the same time conveying the emotion behind the tragedy. She perfectly captures the universality of the teen experience (first love, concerns about her appearance, family troubles, school, friends) overlaid on this absolutely horrifying backdrop of war. There is a great amount of detail in this memoir, which is impressive without feeling like the author embellished for the sake of the story. The writing is definitely the strongest aspect of this book. There would be moments when she would discuss what food they had left or something kind of non-sequitur like that when all of a sudden a big action would happen that interrupted the calm. At first, I wasn't a big fan of that organization because it would catch me off guard in how unexpected it was, but that’s part of its authenticity. We don’t get time to prepare for bombs being dropped or having to evacuate, and Amra encapsulated that in her memoir.
The only small thing I had trouble with was the location and geography of her house in relation to the town, her school, and her aunt and uncle’s house, but that could definitely be my fault for not reading closer. All in all, I was absolutely captivated by this memoir and the story of love and a little cat that is the guardian to her family. As a cat owner, the details about Maci hit home with me and made Amra that much more relatable to me personally. I think teens will also find Amra relatable even though many of them may not have the exact same experience as her. Regardless, her struggles of growing up during a war when you may feel helpless is something today’s teens actually might understand: the COVID-19 pandemic, though not entirely the same, was a time of fear and uncertainty for many teens, and I think this memoir will definitely draw on some of the experience teens today have had.
Creative Use for a Library Program
Teens can host a movie night/fundraiser for the library’s community: screen one of the films about the Bosnian Genocide listed in the back of The Cat I Never Named, with a small fee required for entry. Teens can use the funds to donate to an organization in support of Ukrainian refugees suffering from the current conflict happening overseas. This program connects the past with the present and shows teens that they can make a difference.
Speed-Round Book Talk
The power of hope, perseverance, love and the dedication of a pet cat converge in this memoir by author Amra Sabic-El-Rayess. As a teen, Amra and her family endure the violence and hatred of the Bosnian Genocide from 1992 to 1995 while relying on one another for strength and happiness during a tumultuous and terrifying time. With the help of a little calico cat named Maci, Amra faces the destruction of her town and the upheaval of her life with determination and the courage to survive.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation
To date, there are no recorded challenges to this memoir. I would say there really isn’t much that readers might find problematic in this book except for some mentions of violence and a fear Amra has of being sexually assaulted. As a book about genocide, I think it would be expected to find violence in the story, and as an argument for including the book despite this, I would say that the depictions of violence are not egregious and are an integral part of the story. The author does a great job at balancing the horror of the war with lighter moments so that while there are some violent injuries and she does have an internal monologue about being assaulted by Serbian soldiers, nothing in the book is overly graphic.
Reason for Inclusion
Though this memoir is about a war that occurred 30 years ago, the content could not be more timely. Both at a time when we are still struggling with the COVD-19 pandemic as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I think we need memoirs about history that remind us of the past and motivate us to take action. Amra’s experience is tragic but gives hope to readers that they can make a difference, and I think this is a message that will transcend time.
References
Bihac. (2022, May 4). In Wikipedia. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Biha%C4%87
Bodor, A. (n.d.). Calico cat print [Image]. Saatchi Art. Retrieved from https://www.saatchiart.com/print/Painting-Calico-cat/770932/4042197/view?epik=dj0yJnU9NWRhcGZqdk5ocEg5TldfX0J3MnhXaE5wNHU2dktYbFUmcD0wJm49NDk3SURDeEtuLUtsbGxvREpUQnd4dyZ0PUFBQUFBR0oyb0hN
DeLay, A. (n.d.). Author photograph [Image]. Simon & Schuster. Retrieved from https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Laura-L-Sullivan/503046662
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (n.d.). Bosnia and Herzegovina [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina
Sabic-El-Rayess, A. (n.d.). About Amra. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess Educator & Scholar. https://www.sabicelrayess.org/
Sabic-El-Rayess, A. (2019). Offering another path: The author in Sarajevo years ago [Image]. Teachers College Columbia University. https://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2019/february/everything-she-never-expected-to-talk-about/
Sabic-El-Rayess, A. (2020). The cat I never named: A true story of love, war, and survival [Cover Image]. Bloomsbury. Retrieved from https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/cat-i-never-named-9781547604555/
Simon & Schuster. (n.d.). Laura L. Sullivan. Retrieved from https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Laura-L-Sullivan/503046662
Skousgard, I. (n.d.). Author photo [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/84300-q-a-with-amra-sabic-el-rayess.html
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