Customer Reviews

Clarence the Copy Cat

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

 

 

Poor Clarence! He doesn't want to hurt a living thing, but his refusal to kill mice gets him thrown out on the streets. By chance he is found by a kindly librarian who takes him in and gives him the most wonderful home he has ever known. Clarence is supremely happy. And then... MICE show up at the library! And his new friend expects Clarence to do something about them! Will Clarence get tossed out in the street again? Or will he go against his heart and kill a mouse?

This is a lovely, well-written story aimed at children age 5 and up. Older kids would enjoy deciding what Clarence should do and/or examining his principles. Clarence's no-kill credo is not presented as being didactic-- just a personal decision. In other words, this isn't a book that is going to tell kids they need to be vegans. The focus is on Clarence's particular situation. The illustrations are just perfect for the story: Clarence is a thin, nervous looking cat, rather shabby; but the vibrant background colors make all seem hopeful. Clarence has a definite place in my heart and on my bookshelf.

Hmmm, I fear that I will have to go against the trend here and give this read a five star rather than a four star rating. This is a well told tale, very well illustrated, and when you compare apples to apples, or in this case books to books, this one certainly holds its own.

Clarence was the son of the best mousers Sam's Sandwich Shop had ever had. They were good at it and so great things were expected of their offspring Clarence. But alas, Clarence was a unique individual, a creature of his own and his main peculiarity was that he simply could not stand to kill anything, in particular mice! Yes, he was a complete pacifist and vegetarian...not a good thing to be if you must earn your keep as a mouser!

Clarence will not give in and eventually is turned out into the cold by the Deli owner. Clarence has a hard time of it on the streets and people only want cats that are mousers. To his credit, Clarence holds his ground. At last, after a cold and hungry existence on the street, a kindly librarian takes him in. Ah! Bliss! It is nice and warm, the librarian feeds Clarence cheese and other nonmeat products, it is warm, and there are many books about with nice soft chairs to sleep in and plenty of people to talk to, pet him and keep him company. Clarence helped out by finding lost books and pencils and Mr. Spanner, the librarian kept Clarence "well read, well fed and well petted." Best of all, there were NO nice to worry about. When you think about it, what more could any of us want?

But oh my, in every life a bit of rain must fall, and Clarence's rain storm came the day a mouse showed up in the library...a book eating mouse!

Will Clarence do what cats are suppose to do and whack the little critter, or will Clarence stand on his principles and risk loosing it all and be thrown from his nice new home back on the cold mean streets?

Well you will have to read it to find the answer, as there are no spoilers here, but I will tell you that the copy machine that Clarence sat upon most of the time played a very important role in the life of our peaceful cat. You will just have to read this one yourself as the ending is rather unique and sweet.

This is a well written story with wonderful illustrations by John Manders. It makes a great group read along with one on ones. Between the rather comical art work and the cute tale this work is a complete winner in my opinion and I do highly recommend it.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

The story in this book, the writing and illustration are wonderful. My issue is with the physical condition of the book. I didn't realize I was ordering a used book, but that's OK, I'm glad to have done so. However, at least 6 pages were not attached to the book; I had to tape them in. Some pages were ripped and dog-eared. The book had a stamp from a public library. As I said, I'm all in favor of recycling books, but this one was unaccaptable. At a yard sale it wouldn't have gone for more than 50 cents. I paid $6+.

No, not *that* stereotype.

The one where the male librarian is a cat lover (shudder) and unable to summon up the anatomy to rid his library of a mouse. Mr. Spanner, this story's male librarian, haplessly chases the mouse around with a broom, etc, and shouts a lot.

Clarence, the non-mouser cat, is hilarious.

LOVE the illustrations. Cute story -- great verbs.

I wish my library looked like the one in this story. (wistful sigh)

Clarence, you had me at the title page!
Who could resist this feline with the frangible feelings, releasing the mouse from a trap? He's too soft-hearted to kill anyone, and it gets him in trouble.

His eventual home in a library reacquaints readers with the tradition of the Library Cat - and makes me wonder how many libraries have Library Cats in this day of allergies? You'll be charmed by Clarence and the solution to his kind heart.

This story is about a cat that will not change for anybody. He is a stray that is just looking for a home. Everywhere he goes, people want him, but only if he will kill their mice. One day a librarian kindly takes him in. He doesn't have a mice problem. He sits on top of the copy machine, which is why they call him the Clarence the Copy Cat. This cat is very strongly principled. He will not change no matter what is offered to him. He decided that he wasn't ever going to kill another living creature and that is exactly what he did. A lot of people tried to get him to kill mice, but Clarence just wouldn't do it. This is similar to life when people try to get you to do something you don't really want to do and you don't do it no matter what.