Customer Reviews

Katje, the Windmill Cat

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
Nicola Bayley's picturebook The Mousehole Cat won an array of prizes, and became a popular film and video. Now she has a new cat star, Katje, who lives with a miller in a Dutch village in the 15th century. This handsome picturebook, lovingly produced, is based on the true story of a baby and a cat who survived a flood in 1421.
Bayley's pictures are characteristically painstaking and gentle, softly lit, finely worked, and pretty. The setting has the feeling of a fairy tale, though it is carefully historical, and Bayley makes use of an appropriate margin of blue-and-white Dutch tiles, which pick up details of the story.
Although the tale and the illustrations are particular in place and time (with a historical note of the real facts and locations), the book has a wide appeal, because it is romantic and adventurous, and because the subtly understated text concerns friendship, parents' love for a child, and the mixture of protectiveness and rivalry that siblings feel towards each other. Cat-lovers will delight too in Bayley's ability to capture the feline.
Katje feels usurped when her owner brings home a new bride, who shoos the cat out when she is sweeping, for fear of floury pawprints. But the cat is delighted with the new baby when it arrives. Although she is discouraged from getting close, she plays with the baby when nobody is looking. One day, a storm causes a break in the dike, and the baby and cat are swept away in a cradle. Katje keeps the infant safe until they are rescued, and nobody ever shoos her away again.
Full of atmosphere and tenderness, this is a book that should make children smile. One to treasure.

Since my parents are from Holland, I was thrilled to find a book that relates to my heritage. The book is beautiful, filled with moving illustrations, adorned with little Delft blue tiles. My son (age 4) loves the story, and we always hold our breath as the little cat saves the baby's life. That it is based on a Dutch legend only adds more to the story. And there is a gentle thread of humor woven through the story, as well.

Gretchen Woelfle's "Katje the Windmill Cat" will have great appeal for children and cat lovers alike. The true tale of a brave cat which ended up saving a baby during a 15th-century flood in southern Holland, "Katje the Windmill Cat" begins quietly enough with Katje and her owner, Nico, enjoying the solitude of windmill life together. They play together, eat together, and even cozy up together at night. Both are content.

Then Nico brings home a bride, and soon enough, there is a baby girl named Anneke. Although Katje feels a little pushed aside, she does her best to amuse and take care of the baby. Her efforts are not always appreciated by Lena, Nico's wife, but all is forgiven when, at the end, Katje saves the day and Anneke alike.

Nicola Bayley's superb, softly colored illustrations greatly enhance the text. Pictures of the cat and her family subtly boost the story, as do the utterly charming Delft tile squares on each page--some depicting cats, some windmills, some dikes, and so on. This is a lovely story for almost any age, and the illustrations bring fresh visual rewards with each viewing (try finding the mice scattered throughout!).

This is a lovely book, but the story was too frightening for my 3 1/2 yr old. The story includes a baby and cat being washed away in a flood and rescued at the last minute. Maybe better for older kids.

I just read this book with my newly turned 5 yr. old little girl. I had to come right online to write a positive review because we enjoyed it so much! It was very realistic from the cats perspective on how life changes once an infant enters their world. At the end of the story we were so enthralled that we let out excited sounds and hugged each other! Precious story! Sweet art. Loved it!

After visiting Holland in March, I bought this children's book for my grandson. It is a great read aloud for now and as he grows a good book to read on his own. Not only is it a very good story, it educates children about the Netherlands and their constant stuggle with keeping the sea away from the land areas where the Dutch live. It also incorporates an animal (which children love) as a companion and hero. At the back of the book it explains the Kinderdijk Windmills and I was able to write about my visit there so he will be able to read about my story when he's a bit oder.

This is a delightful story based upon real events of a cat and a baby that survive a flood in the Netherlands. The cat starts out leading the carefree single life, but changes in the human family at home forces a change in lifestyle as the cat moves from sleeping in a warm bed to sleeping in the windmill. During particularly stormy weather, a dike holding back sea water breaks and the whole town is flooded. The cat saves the life of the family's new baby, and later acquires the baby's cradle for a bed after the child grows older. The story is enjoyable for even mature readers.

This story enchanted my children several years ago when we got it from the library. The fact that it's based on a true story made it even more interesting. The pictures give you an idea of pre-industrial Holland, and of course cat lovers like the personality of the cat and her heroic deed! I have tried to order it for a couple years and it was unavailable for one reason or another, so we are very happy to finally own the book.