So this is a roundup of various picture books featuring cats (and some mice) that I loved and therefore want to share with everyone because of the joy of reading children’s literature as an adult. (See LitHub for a review of Wild Things also.)
First on the list is The White Cat and the Monk, which has been on my to-read list for a while. It recently made its way back into my periphery and so I decided to finally scratch one title off that ever-growing list and bring it home.
The White Cat and the Monk is one of many retellings of a poem titled Pangur Bán, penned anonymously sometime in the 9th c. in Old Irish. It’s a meditation on the relationship between the white cat and the scholar monk and how their daily activities parallel each other despite being so disparate.
My first exposure to the book was through a review on BrainPickings, which made me want to pick it up immediately, what with the sumptuous illustrations and glowing review (and of course, let’s not kid ourselves: the cat), and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The pace is slow, but in a measured way, such that even though by the end of the poem we haven’t strayed far from the room in which the monk resides, the reader is still left with a sense of accomplishment. Not much that is tangible has been completed perhaps, but there is a sense that something has been accomplished, and that we now in a sense have a greater understanding of the world at large.
Friend or Foe? by John Sobol, illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova, is another adorable – but also thoughtfully rendered – picture book that should appeal to both younger and older audiences alike. This is another one of the titles that I found first on BrainPickings (are you noticing a pattern here?) that I resolved to pick up after reading.
The cat and the mouse spend their time living across from one another, one in the castle and the other in the house beside the castle, without ever interacting… until the mouse decides to see whether they could be friends. Little does he know, the cat next door is literally a scaredy-cat: the cat jumps down the castle walls when it gets spooked by the mouse and – they change homes, the mouse staying in the castle while the cat lives in the small house next door. Will they meet again, now that they will have lived a while in each other’s shoes (so to speak)? And if they do, will they meet as friends? As foes?
Absolutely delightful, the illustrations and text both! The pacing was superb, and Tolstikova has done an incredible job portraying the encounters between the two natural enemies (as well as inserting modern touches to the castle: note the pictures in the frames hung along the walls). I would recommend this for any age group.
Big Cat, Little Cat by Elisha Cooper reminds me so much of City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems in the way the authors both bring everything around full circle (which is also reminiscent of the way Once a Shepherd goes as well). We no sooner meet the large white cat who lives alone than its world is changed by the introduction of a small black kitten, whom the white cat teaches, and who subsequently accompanies the white cat throughout its days.
As we watch the duo go through their daily routine and see the black kitten grow up to become a black cat, it’s hard to avoid knowing where the book is going to go. But the passing of one cat is not the end here, because there is a new kitten that enters the frame, whom the black cat then nurtures and teaches. It’s the cycle of life, and Big Cat, Little Cat is one that will make you tear up a bit – maybe even cry – but leave you warm and fuzzy inside at the end.
Complement this with Duck, Death, and the Tulip and take a look at this list for more picture books that deal with death and grief.
The last one I’ve got on the list is Cat Knit by Jacob Grant, and I’m pretty sure I don’t need to go to very far lengths to convince you to pick it up – just look at that adorable grumpy cat on the cover!
We start off with Cat and Girl, who are good friends until Girl brings home a new buddy: Yarn. And wouldn’t you know it, Cat and Yarn become the best of friends! That is, until Girl takes Yarn away and returns him to Cat somehow changed… itchy and uncomfortable, Yarn is no longer the bouncy companion Cat remembers him to have been in the good ol’ days. Cat is so upset he storms out of the house and into the snow. He tears itchy and uncomfortable Yarn off, only to realize how cold it is around him, and makes friends again with Yarn in all his new complexities. It’s a cute story about friendship and how sometimes new things can take a bit of time to get used to. The illustrations are adorable, and the text works perfectly within that style; Cat is endearing and though I’d love to see what Yarn must have felt – we’re left rather wondering whether Yarn is actually an agent at all, actually – seeing the relationship between Cat and the Girl through Yarn was touching and filled me with fuzzy, feline-shaped feelings. Put yourself on hold now for Cat Knit if you’re in the mood for some kitty feels too!