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Title: The Town Cats and Other Tales by Lloyd Alexander, Laszlo Kubinyi ISBN: 0-14-130122-8 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Of Cats and Men
Comment: The Book I am going to review is called "The Town Cats" by Lloyd Alexander, author of the Prydain chronicles. This book resembles Aesop's fables, with animals acting like men, but it does not have so many morals. This book is a collection of short tales about cats, acting in the capacity of men. It doesn't fall into any generic category; however, it is humorous, and some of the stories could be called fairy tales.
For example, one of the stories begins like this: a tailor becomes rich. He starts acting strange, trying to live up to his wealth. Yet his strange behavior does not agree with his cat, Vaska. In a strange and hilarious way, Vaska teaches his master how to act normal again. That is one of the stories with more of a moral at the end.
The book is very funny, and it is original. It has a particularly funny tale about a cat and his master, a painter. The subjects he paints are never satisfied, and they never come to sit and let him draw them. Then, the cat takes up the brush, and the subjects learn a lesson about their image of themselves.
As the author says, "Cats being more sensible than the rest of us, the idea of a set of tales demonstrating this came easily to mind. The problem wasn't finding enough examples, but keeping them to a manageable number." I think he did a good job of showing humans' greed and lack of sense, and he made it neither too short, nor too long, but just right.
Lloyd Alexander is a great author. He spun eight great tales about cats into a wonderful book. I recommend it to cat lovers, and people who like to laugh (I include myself in both categories).
Rating: 5
Summary: Clever cats, foolish humans
Comment: "Never take a cat for granted!," warns the back-cover copy of this collection, and Alexander, like myself, has obviously enjoyed a long association with felines and knows whereof he speaks. I originally read this book out of the library years ago and was delighted to find it back in print. Any child (or adult) for whom Puss-in-Boots was a major hero will want to have it in his collection. Alexander's cat-heroes, from Pescaro, who dupes an unwelcome royal bureaucrat in the title story, through Witling in "The Apprentice Cat," may all be able to talk, but otherwise they clearly *think* like cats--sometimes to the detriment of the people around them. (As Mark Twain famously declared, "If man could be crossed with the cat, it would be an improvement for the man, and a comedown for the cat.") There's Margot, who helps a princess marry the man she wants; Baraka, who plays chess and teaches the sultan a valuable lesson; Quickset, who relieves his village of the tyranny of a greedy storekeeper; Vaska, who shows his human the folly of trying to imitate one's betters; Hillesum, who saves the career of the painter he lives with; and the Master of Revels, who helps the fiddler Nicholas earn the recognition that is his proper due. Laszlo Kubinyi's illustrations are as delightful as the stories (don't miss the vignette on the title page). This book will remain on my shelf till the floor falls through.
Rating: 5
Summary: A fun to read book
Comment: Lloyd Alexander is great at putting emotions into his books. I've never laughed out loud because a book was funny until I read his books. I loved how smart the cats were.
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Title: The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man by Lloyd Alexander ISBN: 0141307048 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth by Lloyd Alexander ISBN: 0140378278 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Wizard in the Tree by Lloyd Alexander, Laszlo Kubinyi ISBN: 014038801X Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian: A Grand Extravaganza, Including a Performance by the Entire Cast of the Gallimaufry-Theatricus by Lloyd Alexander ISBN: 0141308168 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Book of Three by LLOYD ALEXANDER ISBN: 0440407028 Publisher: Yearling Books Pub. Date: 15 November, 1978 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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