My very own special particular private and personal cat by Sandol Stoddard Warburg. Designed and illus. by Remy Charlip

An entertaining story of a battle of wills leads readers to think about their own relationship with these around them: animals and human alike, as the boy in this tale tries all he can to get the cat to see things from his perspective. After all, he is his own special particular private and personal cat. 

He lifts the cat up onto his lap, only to have the cat jump off. He dresses the cat in warm clothing and pulls him along in his trolley only to see the cat divest itself of the clothing and jump from the trolley. He makes the cat a bed with its own pillow and little sheet, and sees him again spurn his efforts. He tells the cat that he belongs to him, implying that he should do what the boy wants him to do but the cat responds, using sounds and language, which includes some of the boy’s language. He tells him that he is the me of me, that he likes to walk and talk, and sometimes in the long grass he pretends to be a tiger or a bear, he does all sorts of things; climbs trees and looks for bees, scratches the rugs, cleans himself and sleeps when he wants to sleep. The boy thinks and thinks, resolving that he too is the me of me, he too walks when he wants to walk and talks when he wishes. He does all sorts of things which suit him, which show other people who he is. Both conclude that they are the friends of themselves but also of each other, and that they have boundaries that recognise their independence from each other. But sometimes in the night, the cat might slip onto the boy’s bed cover while he is asleep and sleep on the end of the bed, just like that. 

With illustrations reflecting the story using a minimum of colour, the readers will delight in what is laid before them. They will love the boy going to great lengths to get the cat to be his own, and recognise the way the boy goes about trying to win the cat over. The line drawings with blocks of black, red and white against the orange background, make for an arresting  view of the child and his relationship with the cat. The boy’s attempts are obvious, as are the cat’s reactions.  And the whole is neatly resolved at the end where they come together not only deciding that each is his own being, each having boundaries which should be respected, but coming together to sleep, the cat snuggling onto the end of the bed when he wants to. 

Themes: Boundaries, Individuality, Friendship, Cats.

Fran Knight