Follow that cat

Koko Nishizuka (author)

Rosanne Litzinger (illustrator)

The Beckoning Cat: Based on a Japanese Folktale

Holiday House, 2009

You know the one. The one that sits at restaurants and supermarkets and gift shops starting wide-eyed and raising a single paw at you. That's the one. They are everywhere, and apparently it all started with Yohei, a Japanese "everyboy." Yohei is a fishmonger who sells his fresh catch door-to-door. But when father falls ill, he must forego his work and meager earnings to look after his father at home. Despite the family's poverty, Yohei always shared some fish with a white cat, who now returns his generosity by beckoning customers to his home. Story and pictures are cute, and it's generally nice to reinforce the belief that goodness is rewarded, but there is not much more than that. I'm glad to have an explanation of the beckoning kitties, but now I'm left wondering, why do blue morning glories appear throughout the story?

Mothers' Day

Mitsu and Taro Yashima
Momo's Kitten
Viking, 1961

Some months ago, I posted a review of Umbrella, which reflects on how quickly Momo grows up. In this later book, Momo's Kitten, her family moves from New York City to Los Angeles where she adopts a stray kitten. She names the kitty "Nyan-Nyan." Nyan-Nyan grows very quickly, and her litter of kittens becomes a way to remark delightfully upon how each youngster has its own idiosyncrasy, whether it likes to pull on panda's tongue or sleep in the pigeon cage on the balcony. A sad Momo must give the kittens away eventually, but she finds a creative way to mark that transition with handmade birth certificates. The gentle theme is the cycle of motherhood.

More Japanese kitties

Margaret Hodges (adapted by)
and Aki Sogabe (illustrations)
The Boy Who Drew Cats
Holiday House, 2002

Margaret Hodges' story of Japanese zen monk and artist Sesshū Tōyō (1420-1506) as a boy is charming and suspenseful. In many ways, the young Sesshū is like any other boy, quick but easily distracted. But his obsession with painting cats everywhere—temple columns and walls, and fusuma (sliding doors)—sets him apart. The habit impels the narrative forward and generates the happy ending. Aki Sogabe's illustrations rise to the challenge of depicting one of Japan's most famous artists. They have the thick line and flat colors of modern woodblock prints, which might sound dull, but quite the opposite. The images are fresh, and the expressive cats, which teeter towards madness in their bizarre combination of domestication and wildness, steal the show.

Hello kitties

Last time I went to the library, I noticed at least three children's books that featured Japanese cats. I was struck by this high incidence of felines, but then I remembered Hello Kitty, and had a moment of "Duh, of course!" I'll get to all of these books in due time. Cat lovers and Japanophiles, here is the first one.

In Eric A. Kimmel's Three Samurai Cats, a brute of a rat terrorizes a hapless daimyo, or feudal lord, who seeks help from the eponymous three samurai cats. The rat makes short shrift of the first two felines, despite their show of force. The third, rather decrepit-looking cat tests the daimyo's patience with his opaque strategy, but the rat finally succumbs to his gluttonous appetite for glutinous treats. Kimmel's lively prose is nicely matched with Mordicai Gerstein's comic images.

Eric A. Kimmel (author) and Mordicai Gerstein (illustrator)
Three Samurai Cats: A Story from Japan
Holiday House, 2003