Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth (1893–1986)

I thought this was going to be a nice book about a girl and her doll.

Sometimes life is hard or scary or dangerous, it can be helpful to discuss things ahead of time. This book is in my top three of most content concerns.

1. The boy wonders if his mother is an idiot.
2. The girl feels unappreciated because she is a girl.
3. She runs off to do her own thing and does not have remorse.
4. Death. A dead horse is mentioned, and a dog, and a woman. Unfortunately some children do have to see this in life sometimes as they live in a flood prone area or where there may be hurricanes.

I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’m going to shelve it with the YA because of the many concerns.… (mer)

#1131 in our old book database. Rated: Indifferent

I first read this in 1997 with my wife as part of a project we were doing to read all the Newbery Medal books. I honestly didn't remember anything about it when I picked it up today to reread as part of a project I'm doing to index all the books in our home library (I'm getting near the end and we're at 6540 books -- not counting my tens of thousands of comics and graphic novels).

So a starving artist in "ancient Japan" grows to accept the cat that his housekeeper brings home. But the cat's seeming pressure to include it in a painting that should not have a cat in it threatens to derail a commission that could make the artist's career. The writer then slips in a brief biography of Buddha between scenes of the artist painting various animals and feeling emotionally blackmailed by his cat.

I've seen Christian fiction in children's literature plenty of times with crises of faith and miracles, but I think the is the only Buddhist fiction I've ever read that does the same.… (mer)

This is an interesting book with some positives and negatives. It felt special when I began reading it.

Like a window into the privacies of childhood rambling.

I enjoyed that.

Dave has a conscience. This is good.

The hermit reads and rereads the Bible and Shakespeare and says that is all he needs.

He is a friend to all animals (except two)

The hermit asks Dave to keep his presence a secret. It is not good for an adult to ask children to keep secrets.

On page 53 the hermit mentions scalping but is not discriptive.

Pg 54 mentions killing (this did not happen but is mentioned)

I think if you look at this book as solitary people and animals wanting companionship on their own terms you will find this book as beautiful as I did.

Certainly I’m not crying over an old storybook cat.

Certainly not.

rating- 4/5 naps in a sunny window.… (mer)

This charming children’s book was first published in 1927. As the title implies, it is the story of a captain and his ship’s cat. Now stateside as the captain suffers with rheumatism, the cat lives at the captain’s home. The captain’s housekeeper is not at all fond of the cat, but a startling incident affects how everyone views the now heroic cat. The author does a good job of portraying the tough yet likable cat, and the lovely black and white illustrations by Bernice Loewenstein add much to the enjoyment of the tale. Though nearly 100 years have passed since this book first hit the shelves, it is just as wonderful for today’s children to read as it must have been for those who were kids so many decades ago.… (mer)