Indian children's author Anyshka Ravishankar retells a traditional Japanese folktale in this engaging picture-book. A young boy with a penchant for drawing cats at all times, Akiro is the despair of his parents. Eventually they send him to the local priest to be educated, but eventually this man concludes that Akiro doesn't have the right temperament. Traveling to another village, the boy finds a seemingly abandoned temple, and draws cats all over the rice paper screens, before going to sleep in a cupboard. Overnight, the cats come to life and slay the rat-demon haunting the temple, thereby restoring it to its owners. Turning down an offer to be trained as a replacement for the head priest of this second temple, Akiro continues with his cat-drawing ways, eventually becoming a famous artist...

The story contained in The Boy Who Drew Cats is a well-known one, and I have seen it retold many times. Here in the west, the most famous retelling is probably that done by Lafcadio Hearn, although I have also encountered it in Natalia Belting's collection, Cat Tales, as well as in picture-book versions by Margaret Hodges and Aki Sogabe, Arthur Levine and Frédéric Clément, and David Johnson. I enjoyed Anushka Ravishankar's telling here, and appreciated German illustrator Christine Kastl's accompanying artwork. Having read a number of American versions of this Japanese tale, it was interesting to encounter an Indian one, demonstrating how folklore travels, and how appealing it can be, across cultural and geographic boundaries. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, as well as cat-lovers. ( )

The illustrations in this book are beautiful and match the tone of this story. They are done in thick ink in a style that was famous in early Japanese history. This story shows that even if people do not understand your talent, not to give up, because everyone has a purpose to match their passion.

I found the message of this story to be very beautiful and inspiring. I also read it to my class for inspiration. The colours are all muted and look old, like they could have been from ancient Japan, so that the story has an ancient feel and is fun to read. It sends a good messages to children who are interested in art, maybe they are always drawing.

Read for week 2

Read for assignment.