The Pawed Piper

A little girl desires more than anything to have a cat. She prepares her bedroom with all the favorite things a cat might like, catnip, boxes, balls... and waits with the window open. When she wakes up, surprise!

The little girl ends up caring for dozens of cats, and they all start to live together. There is absolutely no input from the parents, no talk about possible hygiene and disease issues, either for the girl or for the granny's cat. And worst of all, the cats actually belong to actual owners and have been missing from their dear homes. In the end, all the cats go back to their owners, except one kitten, who stays with the little girl. Even this part is wrong. We saw that the mama cat gave birth to her kitten days ago and the kitten is not at all ready to be separated from her mom! It's so wrong!
Regarding the illustrations, I find that the illustrator didn't put enough effort into drawing correct volumes, shapes and perspectives for most of the cats, which makes them look funny or as big as foxes.

In the end, I feel like the message is very confusing to kids. Are they going to learn that it's okay to welcome cats without checking if they are not lost? That parents just should watch and say nothing? That you can just adopt a kitten without checking if it is old enough to be separated from its mom?

It would have been so much better for the girl to want a cat and for the parents to go to a shelter with her! And then show the vet visits, the daily care of a cat, the ups and downs of caring for cats... I do not recommend this book.

Read and reviewed: 2019-11-27