NO ORDINARY CAT

A cat hungry for adventure discovers that his destiny lies closer to hearth and home in this chapter book.

Swayed by an aging tomcat’s tales of seafaring derring-do, orange tabby kitten Rufus dreams of a world beyond his tame life with Mama Cat and his siblings. Adopted by gentle Mrs. Lin, Rufus is happy to be her affectionate companion until his first birthday brings an acute itch to roam and uncover his destiny. But after a near-fatal forest encounter with maddened nesting geese, the wandering feline is content to settle in with his rescuer, Mr. Peabody. A lonely poet with writer’s block, Mr. Peabody finds peace and the renewal of his creative drive in Rufus’ comfortable presence until he learns that his furry friend, “Mr. Cat,” is the subject of Mrs. Lin’s desperate “missing cat” notice in the newspaper. This feline-centric yet deeply human and adult-friendly novel for children is the first work of fiction by Spandel, a prolific author best known for instructional books on writing for classrooms and workshops. May it not be her last. The author’s well-drawn characters are shaped by empathy, not sentiment, and by her near-poetic observations of the minutiae in their lives (Mrs. Lin’s garden and kitchen; Mr. Peabody’s books and herbal teas) and of the natural world around them. Rufus, beginning his journey with an explorer’s bravado, sees a “familiar wooded landscape transformed into a patchwork of meadows and wetlands. Carpets of purple asters and yellow marsh marigolds rolled out in all directions as the sun spilled the last of its light across the water and littoral mud flats….The world was reaching out its arms, enveloping the young swashbuckler in its embrace.” How Rufus stays in the lives of both his loving caretakers and discovers his true purpose are movingly answered through the wisdom of an unexpected and memorable source: Asha, a battered rescue cat, scarred but not broken by rough living. The text is richly complemented by Kelleher’s pastel paintings of animals and ambient settings. Among the book’s endmatter: Mr. Peabody’s recipe for crab cakes and his poem dedicated to the absent Asha, promising to “keep an extra blue plate at the table always…for when you bring your wild heart home.”

A beautifully written and illustrated feline tale with subtle emotional depths.