Preface

The genre I chose for this story is a fable. This story fits the conventions of this genre because it is a fictional story that has talking animals as the characters. It also fits the conventions because it is short and has only a few characters. There is also a lesson to this story, which is to not judge a book by its cover. The conventions I chose to follow were symbolism, anthropomorphization, and lessons because they fit my storyline best and were the most useful in the presentation of my story.

Present-day authors utilize fables to make political statements, but I chose to reject this convention along with humor because they did not fit my storyline well. I wanted the audience to focus more on how harsh actions can negatively affect others and their feelings, and the lesson that could be learned from this.

My intention with this story is to entertain children, but also teach them a lesson. As mentioned previously, the lesson of this story is to not judge a book by its cover. This is an important life lesson that should always be practiced. When people judge instantly based on what they hear or see on the surface, they tend to misjudge because they do not allow themselves the chance to see the deeper picture. My hope with this story is to convince children to give others a chance, despite any rumors they have heard, before they judge them. I want children to understand that it is wrong to judge someone before getting to know who they truly are.

I conveyed my intentions well in my story. In society, black cats are believed to be unlucky. However, it is clear that this is not actually true. Lucky, my main character, is a black cat who is treated poorly by other animals because they have been told she is unlucky, so they are scared of her. However, no one truly took the time to get to know Lucky. One day, Lucky showed up just in time and helped another kitten who was in serious trouble. After this, the other animals realized that she was not so unlucky after all. Once they saw for themselves that she did not only bring bad, they realized they should not have judged her based on the stories they have heard about black cats. They realized the rumors were not true and they should have taken the time to get to know who Lucky truly was.

I chose to use a black cat named Lucky as the main character to symbolize the stereotype that black cats are unlucky. This causes the other animals to possess a false perception of her based on societal views and beliefs. I used three other cats to symbolize friendship, but also to show that sometimes others tend to follow the crowd and believe or follow the actions of others in a group. The three cats also symbolize a sense of power since Lucky is outnumbered and the other cats gang up on her.  There is an image in the book that shows Lucky walking home all alone in the rain. The image portrays a more melancholy tone to help symbolize how badly the others hurt Lucky's feelings. This way, the audience can see how the actions of the other kittens affected Lucky.

Lucky possesses several qualities. She is forgiving, bubbly, friendly,  and brave. She is not afraid to reach out to others and try to make friends, which helps her when trying to speak to the other kittens. She is forgiving, which helps her forgive the other kittens for how they treated her. She is also brave, which is why she instantly helped Fluffy out of the dangerous situation, while the other kittens just watched. The other kittens possess different qualities. They are unfriendly at first, hurtful, uneasy, and inconsiderate. This explains why they are so mean to Lucky when they first meet her. But their qualities change after they see who Lucky really is. 

The images used in this book were created using clipart from the website storyjumper.com. The images used are realistic, but they are animated. The use of color in the images helps show the mood of the characters. In the rainy image of Lucky walking home, darker and more dull colors are used to show sadness. In the end when all the animals are playing together, brighter colors are used to show happiness. The biggest symbol I used was the black cat, because it is widely viewed as bad luck. Also, animals are shown running away or are distant from Lucky in the images at the beginning of the story. This symbolizes that they are afraid of her. The animals stand closer to her in the images towards the end of the book, which symbolizes that they feel more comfortable around her.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful black kitten named Lucky. Unfortunately, Lucky did not have any friends, for the other kittens were scared of her. In fact, most animals kept away from her. She did not understand why. This bothered Lucky, but she still had fun on her own, chasing after mice and birds.

No, no, no, please do not eat me!

"No, no, no, please do not eat me!" squeaked a tiny mouse. But Lucky would never do such a thing! She only wanted to play. Not wanting to frighten the little mouse any further, Lucky decided to walk home. She did not understand why the mouse was so frightened by her.

On her way home, Lucky saw three kittens playing together and became so excited that she could not contain herself.

"Hi, hi, hi!" Lucky shouted in their direction. "What are your names?"

 Alarmed and frightened, the kittens reluctantly shared their names. "I am Fonsi" said the brown kitten, "I am Fuzzy" shared the orange kitten, "And I am Fluffy" shared the grey kitten.

"I am Lucky" she replied, "Fonsi, Fuzzy, and Fluffy, you seem fun and friendly, can we play together?"

The kittens warned Lucky not to come any closer. "You are so super scary, you will give us bad luck!" they shouted back. "We will never play with you!"

Hi, hi, hi! Can I play?

Do not come any closer!

Lucky got closer so she could hear better. But the kittens turned and prepared to run away.

"Why are you scared of me?" Lucky asked.

"You bring bad luck to everyone you come across! Have you not heard the stories? Black cats are unlucky and bad things happen when they are around. You would only bring trouble our way" Fuzzy and Fonsi explained.

Lucky walked home alone in the wet rain. Sad and soaked, her paws slushed and splashed through the slippery puddles. 

"Now it all makes sense. I am unlucky. That is why no one wants to be my friend",  she thought to herself. Lucky was so sad she walked all throughout the night and never went home.