The Cat Who Thought She was a Dog and the Dog Who Thought He Was a Cat By: Isaac Bashevis Singer

How do personal experiences effect what we write as authors? Essential Question: How do personal experiences effect what we write as authors?

Meet the Author Issac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) As a boy in Poland, Issac Bashevis Singer became fascinated with real-life stories he witnessed in he father’s “courtroom”. His father was neither a lawyer nor a judge. The man was a rabbi, a Jewish religious leader, who settled disputes among the poor Jews of Warsaw, Poland’s capital.

The Writer As Judge Later, as a writer, Singer would settle the problems of his own made-up characters.

Far And Not So Far Singer came to the United States in 1935. He became famous for his novels and stories. Eventually he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The stories that won him such a wide audience were often based on what he heard and saw as a boy.

The Story Behind The Story As a religious Jew, Singer’s father believed that people should not take pride in their appearance. It is likely that he banned or limited the use of mirrors in his household. You see the influence of this attitude in the story.

Vocabulary Word Bank Enthralled –v: Fascinated; charmed Protruded –v: stuck out; extended Console –v: comfort; make less sad Afflicted –v: received pain or suffering Vanity –n: the quality of being very proud of one’s appearance

Prefixes: pro- In this story you met a character whose teeth protruded. The prefix pro- can mean “forward or before in place or time, or in front of’, and the word part –trude means “to jut out”. Teeth that protrude jut out in front of your lip.

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