Literary Cat of the Day

Princess Arjumand from To Say Nothing of the Dog. Yes, I know that this is the literary cat of the day post and I'm referencing a book that has a dog in it's title. The dog is important but it's the cat that causes big trouble. I read this months ago, but I'm still thinking about this book. Part mystery, part comedy, part science fiction, part romance, this book pokes fun at multiple genres and references so many of my favorite books its hard for me to stop gushing about it. Just read it, you will be happy you did.

Bad Cats

I'm a judge in a children's book contest and I just finished my entries and I want you to shoot me now. Why do people think children's books have to be opportunities to hit the child over the head with a moral or lesson? I'm sick of books that feature sickeningly sweet protagonists. In light of this, I give you a double header cat book of the day: Mr Pusskins: A Love Story and Rotten Ralph. Mr Pusskins was first brought to my attention by Daniel Pinkwater on NPR, and his reading with Scott Simon is too much fun. Rotten Ralph existed for me first on some valentines we had donated to the office, and when I found him later in book form, I realized he was the literary version of our Archie. While Mr. Pusskins does get his comeuppance and learns a lesson, I love that Rotten Ralph never does.

Book Cat of the Day

Sampson from the Church Mice series. My favorite of this group is The Church Mice Adrift by Graham Oakley. Why this series has gone out of print, I'll never know because the story is terrific and the illustrations are delightful. In The Church Mice Adrift, progress has come to Waterthorpe and the rats have been evicted from the waterfront. Searching new digs, they evict the church mice and Sampson from the Vestry. It's up to Sampson to get them home again. Sampson is the best of book cats, smart, courageous, and charitable to the sometimes undeserving mice in his care.


These stories were favorites of mine as a child, and now Nora thinks they are they cat's meow too.