Customer Reviews

The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside: Based on A True Story

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was really impressed with this book as an object when I first saw it. It's beautifully designed, and pretty high quality for its genre (many kids books these days are kind of cheap). It looks expensive, like a leatherbound volume from the library of some old English manor house. There are some very cute, whimsical touches, like cat scratch marks on the "wallpaper" lining the inside of the covers. The artwork is unimpeachable, and it's really novel the way von Buhler seems to have exclusively used clay to sculpt the characters and then photographed them, rather than painting or drawing them.

According to the author's note on the dust jacket and also the book's stellar website (can be found via Google), the story is based on Cynthia's own experience taming a stray cat. It is sweet and heartwarming story of a stray cat who learns to trust a human, and a human who learns to accommodate the cat's needs in a cute way. Kids I've read this to seem to really like that it's based on someone's actual experience. The visuals are interesting for everyone, not just children. They are amazing and quirky and include an elaborate set with easy-to-miss details like pieces of tuna sushi, tiny framed pictures of frogs on the wall, a ouija board on the coffee table, and lit period lamps that appear to actually plug into the wall!

I've bought this book for a couple of my nephews and the children of friends, and every single one of them has ended up loving it, whether I'm reading it to them or they're looking at the pictures themselves and talking about various details they notice. It is truly delightful, and an excellent find for any shopper looking to buy a book for kids in the 2-6 year old range. After coming across it, I also discovered that the author has illustrated several other people's books, but none of them in this style. I'll have to check those out as well.

Highly recommended!

The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside is a touching story of trust, patience, friendship and love, thoughtfully written and exquisitely illustrated by Cynthia von Buhler with such warmth and detail that you feel like you too have been invited inside the charming Victorian home. The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside is the story of a little Victorian girl who leaves warm milk on her porch for a stray cat she invites inside, but the cat will not come in. Each day the girl leaves gifts for the cat on the porch, and again invites the cat inside. Each day the cat declines her invitation. Children will delight in the repetition of the story, while parents enjoy the artistry of the illustrations and the variation as the gifts build in grandeur from a simple bowl of milk to elaborate Victorian furnishings. With patience and time, the cat comes to trust the little girl and eventually shows her affection by inviting the little girl into the cat's home they have built on the porch. This storybook and the true story of Olympus, the stray cat von Buhler rescued which inspired her tale, will touch everyone's heart.

The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside is complemented by von Buhler's website, [...] which has been skillfully crafted to showcase her storybook with the same attention to detail and beautiful illustrations. Click on your mouse to discover personal information about von Buhler and the inspiration for her story, an inside look at the making of the book and the Victorian house (von Buhler's childhood dollhouse), step-by-step instructions for young readers to make and showcase their own clay kitty and reviews, and valuable information for saving other cats.

Both The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside and its complementary website, [...], are extraordinary!

This book is destined to become a classic. The author and illustrator is talented indeed and spins a clever, humorous, and also touching tale based on a true story (she herself rescues cats). My niece already has the book memorized. And according to von Buhler's web site, she's donating part of the book's proceeds to a local animal shelter. There's nothing NOT to love about this charming book.

The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside is a visually spectacular feast for the eyes! Done with a real doll house (done up like the author's residence) and using clay figures for the narrator and cat, this is one of the most unique and visually appealing books I've looked at in a long time. In addition to strong visual appeal of the pages, the book is done in a faux padded leather cover with wallpaper end papers (given the charming touch of cat scratches) which makes this book a step above the average picture story book that are normally put out for children these days.

The story itself is quite short, it does happen to be 8 pages over the 32 you normally see these days. As the story starts out, our narrator sees a stray cat outside on a cold and wintery day and tries to coax him inside the house without success. As each day passes, the narrator offers milk...then milk and tuna...then milk, tuna and so on, until practically the entire house is out on the porch to make the cat feel more welcome and comfortable out in the cold. At the end, the cat invites the woman out onto the now very house like porch. It's a charming book, full of love for animals and with a very warm and old-time feeling. The very end, the author places an end note about the story being inspired by a stray she tried form many, many years to coax into her own home...this end note is quite sad and younger children might not benefit from hearing that the cat FINALLY came in only to die in the owners arms...but it IS quite a lovely touch!

Overall, I give it four stars and would definitely buy this for my permanent collection if my children were not passing the age that this would get read again and again...but I will definitely buy copies to give as gifts. The book as an old world feel from cover to cover and is such a charming and sweet story that small children cannot help but love it! The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside would probably be best enjoyed by kids ages 3-6, maybe all the way up to age 8...but not much beyond and for older kids, probably not more than one time. For younger readers/listeners, the short story with the humor of the house slowly moving out to the porch for the love of the cat and the repetitive nature of the text (the litany of gifts offered and use of the woudn't come inside phrase...small kids usually LOVE this type of repetitive phrasing because over time it allows them to easily get in on the story telling) combined with the rich photographs and the charm of the claymation type woman and cat make for a splendid combination that may be destined to become a classic!

Based on a true story in the life of the author, who, living in a Victorian house in Boston, befriends a feral cat, who accepts her gifts, but refuses to come into the house. The three-dimensional art in this book is brilliantly conceived. The photography is a bit busy, or blurry at times. Von Buhler has created the kitty out of clay, modified her childhood dollhouse, created a doll-version of the person in the house, among other things. As she points out in her end note, this story is based on a series of events of how she befriended (but not tamed) a fat feral cat whom she names Olympus. In the book, however, she takes a flight of fancy, and has the cat invite HER outside to his house, which she has, in effect, created for him; rather than telling the true ending of how the cat finally comes into the house just as he is dying.

There is definitely a rhythm to this book--a cumulative story (like "this is the house that Jack Built", or "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly", where each series ends with "the cat ran away". She leaves him milk the first day, then milk and tuna the next, until, eventually she leaves him all that, plus a rug, a comfy chair and his own house, among other things. But the most important thing which the narrator leaves for Olympus, the scaredy cat is unstated: LOVE. A true feral cat, him remains essentially untamable, but his learns to trust and be comfortable on the porch of the woman who cares for him.

"The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside" is an important contribution to children's literature, to treatment of feral cats, and to three-dimensional art forms. She has an interactive website where she invites children to create their own Cat out of Sculpy Clay. Her artwork has found itself in galleries, magazines, and so forth. I have a few comments about her comments at the end of the book. People should understand the difference between feral cats and other stray cats. Feral cats are ones who were born outside, away from humans, but there are many stray cats who are friendly and can be readily adopted once they gain trust. I have adopted two wonderful Tabbies this way. They were probably someone's pet in the past. One of mine was already neutered. But there's plenty of feral cats who live in packs around here, and come out at night to raid the trash behind the fast-food establishments. Von Buhler instructs the reader to call a rescue service and have the cat brought to a "no-kill" shelter. The fact is, however, that these shelters are full or cannot take feral cats. Cats are adopted out from shelters everyday, but a feral cat wouldn't stand much of a chance finding a real home. The best solution is actually to trap, neuter, and release the feral cats. People who volunteer to do this, obtain traps which catch the cat alive, and then take them to vets to be neutered, and release them back to their area. Feral cats can them live out the rest of their (probably short) lives, but cannot have babies, which perpetuate this problem.

This book is really beautiful and the story is amazing. It's abaout a cat and a woman. The images are staged sets photographed with Hasselblad, the colours are very nice, the characters are sculpture made of clay. My daughter loves the book and always ask me to read it. It is based on a true story. I hope that Ms Von Buhler will make another one soon and that it will be translated in italian.

My 3 year old Grand Daughter, Lola, loved to check this book out from our local library. Whenever she had to return it, she would tell her Mom that the book would "miss her".
On Christmas Day when she opened her gift and it was her favorite book, she was very happy. It really is a good book for children, and my Lola loves it!

I got this book for my husband who loves cats. We have three - two black Lamont Cranston, Dust Bunny and one that is white with a couple black stops Wendi Darling.

The book was very touching and so typical of cats. The pictures were lovely. It was a bit sad, but I enjoyed it before I sent it to him.

For every cat lover who knows that cats represent all of the love and trust in the world unless they are indifferent."

Ages 2-5 will love this very different book of friendship and trust, which tells the true story of an author who befriends a stray cat who won't budge from her porch. Cynthia von Buhler slow years of friendship and revamping of her cat's comfortable porch home leads to a relationship, a book, and family involvements. A rich, different kind of story reads like fiction but is based on a true story.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch