Customer Reviews

Cat, You Better Come Home

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This retelling of the prodical son story based on a runaway cat is one children's book that moms and dads will love, maybe even more than their kids. Garrison Keillor's poem is a joy to read and the artwork so is beautiful you won't even want to let your children get their hands on it. The story is rich in sarcasm and symbolism for adults and funny rhymes and sound effects for the kids.

The narrator's cat wants to go out, and he argues with it, telling her she better come back if he lets her out. When he finally lets her out, she takes off immediately to Europe and lives it up on chateaubriand and other fancy food, and develops a decidedly European purr. But her life of excess results in her eventual demise, and she ends up back home again after a year and half. The text is all told in rhyme, and the artwork is in an interesting cubist-influenced style. The book is quite sophisticated, and may go over the heads of most small people. It has about 1100 words.

Cat lovers, Keillor fans and children alike will enjoy this book for its beautiful art, rich and colorful writing and endearing message. But it's not necessarily about cats. Keillor hides behind the cat as Minnesota's prodigal son who finally came home. You can see the world. Become famous! You can even get rich but you can't take the -oh out of a Minnesota boy. We're glad you came home, Garrison.

The artwork attracted me. Soon I was one of two middle-aged women openly rapping the verses and laughing at them in a bookstore. Others gave us a wide berth. It was great fun. THEN I saw that Garrison Keillor had written the book. Of course. I should have known.

I bought this book for my 4 year old who loves cats, and we read it aloud together. We love the poetry and she's become quite excited about rhymes as a result of it. I've even heard her using the line, "Cat, you better come home!" in other situations, and it has obviously made quite an impression on her. Enjoy this one!

Wonderful book! Great illustrations, imaginative verse and outstanding message for children. Highly recommended!

I'm a first grade teacher who discovered this book in our library today and knew instantly it would make the perfect gift for my cat-loving friend who teaches preschool! It's fun to read books to kids and also be able to get a kick out of it yourself. The vocabulary helps stretch the kids a little too. Mine asked, "What's pate?! "

This is my all-time favorite children's book, and I don't even have children. I'm getting ready to purchase yet another copy for a friend's baby shower. GREAT illustrations, rythmic and catchy words -- it's a fabulous read-aloud for kids and adults, too.

The children's bookstore where I bought this book is long gone, and my son's childhood is rapidly disappearing as well. But we continue to read this book year after year, and enjoy once again the story of Garrison Keillor's prodigal cat. The rhythms and rhymes of the story are delightful, and the artwork is amazing -- at once both ethereal and down to earth. Yes, you might have to read the story to a child haltingly the first time, stopping to explain the meaning of words like promenade, abyss, sardonic, and minions. But you'll sail through it the other hundred times, so it's worth the initial effort (even if you do have to own up to the fact that you know what muscatel is). We never get tired of the story and when we get to the end, we linger for a long time on the last page -- one with no words, just a sad line of overstuffed, decrepit and dissipated felines limping home. Two of them look just like our own cats!

Here is a delightful picture book from America's beloved storyteller, Garrison Keillor. Based on one of his "Cat Songs," this is the tale of Puff, a bored and haughty cat who runs off one night to seek the high-life she feels is her due. Next her master hears, she's the toast of Europe, with "an entourage that is just immense," as she dines on "goldfish pies and ragout of Robin thighs." But when the inevitable happens, and her fair-weather friends desert her, the owner's plaintive cry of "Cat You Better Come Home" is finally rewarded:

"So CATS, YOU BETTER COME HOME.

You can seek your fortune, but nevertheless,

Remember your name and your address,

Because someday YOU'LL NEED TO COME HOME."

Rich, luminous paintings in a retro-Fifties style combine purrfectly with Keillor's over-the-top verse to raise the entertainment level pitch. Children and adults alike will heartily enjoy CAT, YOU BETTER COME HOME.