Customer Reviews

The Boy Who Drew Cats: A Japanese Folktale

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The Boy Who Drew Cats is a little hard to classify; it is both a ghost story and a monster story. I first read this story when I was about ten years old, and I have never forgotten it. This is a great story for Halloween, and a wonderful story if you love cats. It's sure to make you appreciate your own feline companion.

There has never been a time when I did not adore this book, largely for the amazing illustrations. I loved it when I was little to the point of obsession.

A few years ago, I rediscovered the book and was incredibly surprised at how little text and story there actually was. It must have dug itself so deeply into my imagination that I invented all sorts of events around the images and wonderful story. I remember being frightened, excited, happy... It had everything a budding bookworm could ever desire. Even though it was not as elaborate as I remembered, it holds a special place on my shelf and it always will.

A brief story with a huge impact, thanks to the incredibly beautiful, impressionistic, and moody paintings by Frederic Clement that create an almost cinematic atmosphere. A young boy who has to leave his poverty-stricken family to live with monks finds an abandoned temple supposedly haunted by a huge and terrible Goblin rat. To pass the time, he paints the walls with images of cats and finds he's created a battle he never expected. If you want to give any cat lover an unusual gift they'll love, this is a book no cat lover will fail to be entranced by.