The Cat’s Tale: Why the Years Are Named for Animals

Willow’s pet cat Mao relates how the Jade Emperor chose twelve animals to represent the years in the Chinese calendar.

Cat

Cat. Dog. Tall Tree. Thank goodness for that! A cat’s life is not all fun and games, or even all milk and mice. With very few words used to convey all kinds of action, Mike Dumbleton’s sparse yet descriptive text joins perfectly with Craig Smith’s whimsical illustrations. Cat will have young listeners on the edges of their seats, ready to join Cat…thank goodness for that!

The Tygrine Cat

Alone and lost, a young cat called Mati is struggling to be accepted by a colony of street cats in the bustling marketplace at Cressida Lock. What Mati doesn’t know is that he is the last of a vital, age-old breed and that a mysterious feline assassin named Mithos is close on his trail. With his enemy nearing, can Mati learn to harness his ancient powers.

Pitschi

On Lisette’s farm there are many animals. Lisette loves her animals and they are all very happy–except Pitschi, the smallest kitten. Pitschi wants to be something different. It takes a terrifying night in a strange place and a warm homecoming for Pitschi to discover that what she really wants is to be a kitten after all.

Someday When My Cat Can Talk

In a little girl’s fantasy, her cat sneaks away, hops a ship, and sails off to Europe! And someday, when he can talk, he’ll tell her all about the amazing things he discovered there like whether or not British cats drink tea and how he strutted down the runway in a Paris fashion show.

Caramba

Caramba is a fat, furry, striped cat with a big problem. “Every single cat in the world can fly,” he sighs, “except me!” Caramba would love to swoop and glide between the clouds, to feel the wind whistling through his fur. He tries to soar into the sky over and over again but always lands flat on his face, until finally he sadly accepts that he is earthbound. “Don’t be such a scaredy-cat,” cry his cousins. “All cats are meant to fly!” They grab his paws and whisk him up into the sky for an impromptu flying lesson that ends with a big splash and a surprising discovery.

When the Silliest Cat Was Small

A companion to My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World, chronicling the silliest cat’s younger years. The only thing cuter than a cat is a kitten, and the only thing cuter than a kitten is a kitten who is actually an enormous elephant! After being chosen from a litter of other brightly colored elephants, Gilles’s “kitten” must acclimate himself to his new home. Just like in the first book, the elephant behaves like a kitten should–making a mess, hiding from his food bowl, and waging a war with a particularly tricky stuffed animal.

Nero Corleone

Nero Corleone isn’t your average cat. He’s much worse. On a farm somewhere in Italy, a black cat named Nero reigns supreme. There’s not one animal on the farm that doesn’t do exactly as Nero orders, even the dog. Then one day,Nero visits the house on the nearby hill, where a young German couple is vacationing, and there he has his first taste of the good life. Warm delicious condensed milk and sausage sandwiches! Soon after, Nero and his sister Rosa travel ten hours to their new home in Germany. But nothing really changes for Nero; he simply goes from being farm bully to being neighborhood bully. In this irresistible and warmly-told novel, where humans seem simple, and animals complex, Nero stops at nothing to get what he wants in life. But as time passes, even Nero begins to learn the lessons of life. Elke Heidenreich is a well-known columnist in Germany. Her satirical columns about everyday subjects appear in the biweekly magazine Brigitte. Quint Buchholz Hanser has illustrated many books for children. Both author and illustrator make their homes in Germany.

The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity

Every day, eight-year-old Christine’s walk to school takes her past a talking alley cat. Christine stops and feels its warm head beneath her hand, and the cat’s insights invariably give her something to ponder. One day her teacher asks her why she’s always late for school. Frightened, she reveals her secret. Her punishment: she must write 200 lines stating repeatedly, “There are no talking cats, and from now on I will arrive at school on time.” However, the cat is real, no matter how many lines Christine writes and she might just as well leave out the “no” — the headmaster won’t even notice, says the clever cat. That’s what the cat always says — that life is all about being clever and looking out for yourself, first and foremost. Christine isn’t so sure, and she is a little scared of the cat, too. There must be more to life than self-interest.