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Good books, old friends

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By Kara G. Kvasnicka

Tuesday, November 29, -0001

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I was startled to look down a couple months ago and see a thin black and white cat with big jade green eyes nestled cozily in it.

Boris (the cat has since been named by a close friend because he resembles the cat in a computer screen saver called "Boris is napping") is one of the many stray, wild or abandoned cats that sadly are a distinguishing characteristic of my neighborhood.

Since I first saw him in it, I have learned the planter is apparently one of Boris' favorite spots. Seldom does a day go by when I do not see him curled up on its winter accumulation of dead leaves. He will be deeply dismayed when I plant flowers in it later this month.

I have cooed gently to him and tried to win his trust by putting food and water out for him, but he will not let me near. His crippled right hind leg indicates that his previous dealings with humans were not good.

When he sees me or anyone else approaching, he quickly scrambles away and returns when he judges us to be at a safe distance.

I will probably lose track of him in the late fall or early winter. Hopefully he will be resourceful enough to find shelter from cold and snow. The friend who named Boris assures me wild cats survive the winter by living under porches.

But who really knows?

Children's picture books often have a cat or dog who needs a home as their protagonist. Two of my favorites are Comet's Nine Lives, written and illustrated by Jan Brett (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1996), and McDuff Moves In, written by Rosemary Wells and illustrated by Susan Jeffers (Hyperion Books for Children, 1997).

Both books are ideal for preschool children because their stories can be gleaned almost entirely from the illustrations.

Preschoolers can also learn valuable lessons through the determination of each book's main character to find his proper place in the world despite the many challenges and obstacles he must face along the way.

Comet's Nine Lives is a clever twist on the old saying that "a cat has nine lives." It introduces us to Comet, an amiable fluffy white cat who is on a quest to find a permanent home on Nantucket Island. He must accomplish his goal before he loses all of his nine lives in an unexpected series of humorous, but life-threatening scrapes.

The Greek hero Odysseus' epic struggles to return home are tame compared with Comet's efforts to find one.

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Brett shows just how a cat's lives can be endangered by everything from a stack of books, to strawberry ice cream, to a strong easterly wind.

Her text is lyrical, succinct and funny. Each of her pictures is a multidimensional feast for the eyes in which all the story's excitement and humor is captured as well as Nantucket Island's natural beauty and resort ambiance. She gives the book a nautical feeling with her vivid depictions of the island's beaches and harbors and her pictures' decorative borders of sea shells, starfish and nautical knots and ropes.

Young readers will be amused to find dogs in colorful resort wear playing the parts of people in this story. Cats, on the other hand, might take exception to Brett's interpretation of the order of the species.

I confess that I consider the canine residents to be the one element of this otherwise charming story that is almost too cute.

Wells and Jeffers inject a little more realism into McDuff Moves In, the story of a white West Highland terrier trying to find a home in a typical suburban neighborhood in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

The situations this terrier, "a little white dog nobody wanted" with no name, finds himself in after escaping the a dogcatcher's truck are ones in which we can easily imagine any lost or stray dog.

Cats and dogs are on equal footing here as the terrier finds out when he greets a cat with a congenial "Woof!"

"Hiss" is the cat's response.

Drawn to a house by "the smell of vanilla rice pudding and sausages" wafting through an open kitchen window, the terrier must appeal to the kindness and compassion of the two humans inside for food and shelter.

Jeffers effectively evokes the story's setting with bold colors and strong lines. Her captivating poses and expressions for the terrier will make you wish you could adopt him.

Wells also provides appealing scents and sounds in two- or three-sentence captions for each of Jeffers' pictures.

I am not sure why Jeffers and Wells chose to set their story several decades ago, but they do manage to induce a nostalgia for an earlier, perhaps more innocent era.

Not surprisingly, in a desire to give children comforting story lines as well as engaging characters and settings, the creators of both books give their stories happy endings.

After losing his eighth life in Hurricane Elmadore, Comet is washed up at the doorway of a lighthouse.

"Staring into the green eyes of the lighthouse cat," he knows in an instant that he has found his true love and his true home.

Likewise, after the terrier is admitted to the home of the nice newlyweds Fred and Lucy he quickly wins their hearts with the same mannerisms and tricks all puppies use to worm their way into our affections.

Fred and Lucy contemplate taking him to the dog pound, but they cannot bring themselves to part with this darling pup. They give him a permanent home and the perfect name, McDuff, after one of their favorite treats, "McDuff's Melt in Your Mouth Shortbread Biscuits."

Both books will help make children sensitive to the lovable personalities cats and dogs in the real world have even after they suffer setbacks.

In good time they will become aware of creatures like Boris in their neighborhood and understand that not all dogs and cats live story book lives.

While Comet's adventures are confined to one book, McDuff's continue in two sequels. In McDuff Comes Home, McDuff gets lost and needs the help of an eccentric neighbor to get home. In McDuff and the Baby, he experiences every dog's nightmare — the arrival of a newborn baby in his house.

McDuff is also available as a plush toy which I find so adorable that I am sending one along with the McDuff books to my niece Lauren for her second birthday.

Unfortunately, Comet is not available as a stuffed animal but if you really like him you can contact Brett through her web site (www.janbrett.com) and ask her to consider writing more books about him.

Brett, Jeffers and Wells are all popular children's authors and illustrators. You will find a wide selection of their books in local libraries and bookstores.

Kvasnicka, a former East Village Magazine news editor, has been the magazine's contributing editor and research consultant since 1989. She has a master's degree in information and library studies from the University of Michigan and works for the Genesee District Library.

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