The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint

In this whimsical, original folktale, written and illustrated throughout in vibrant full color by two celebrated masters of modern fantasy, a young girl's journey becomes an enchanting coming-of-age story about magic, friendship, and the courage to shape one's own destiny. Lillian Kindred spends her days exploring the Tanglewood Forest, a magical, rolling wilderness that she imagines to be full of fairies. The trouble is, Lillian has never seen a wisp of magic in her hills--until the day the cats of the forest save her life by transforming her into a kitten. Now she must set out on a perilous adventure that will lead her through untamed lands of fabled creates--from Old Mother Possum to the fearsome Bear People--to find a way to make things right.

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest centers around a young orphan girl named Lillian. Every day she leaves extra milk for the cats, a biscuit for the tree man, and feeds extra seeds to the birds and crows. She lives with her Aunt on the edge of Tanglewood forest. One day, as she wanders through the forest, she is bit by a snake. As she lay dying, the cats come to her aid. Thus beginning the tale.

The story is structured around that of traditional fairy/folk tales. Magical beings have been forgotten by the world. One gifted human gets the chance to experience their world. All of the events center around choices the characters must make and how they affect the other characters. Similar to the Tortoise and the Hare, The Cats of Tanglewood Forest is full of lessons. There are no major battles, but many interesting characters (including Jack Crow, T.H. Fox, Mother Possum).

The illustrations were beautiful. Easily 5 stars for those. The story itself left many open endings (again, similar to traditional folk tale style). I would have loved to read more about many characters. That's why I can only give it 4 stars.

Charles de Lint makes me feel good about being a Pagan :-)

Cats of Tanglewood Forest is a story about a little girl who gets rescued from snakebite with cat magic and it gets messy, and she has to clean it up. It leads her to meet different people and different tasks.

The only thing I didn't like was the depiction of the Bear People. I was hoping more of a Baba Yaga character.