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Dear Book Lovers, Welcome! I am delighted that you have found The Through the Looking Glass blog. For over twenty years I reviewed children's literature titles for my online journal, which came out six times a year. Every book review written for that publication can be found on the Through the Looking Glass website (the link is below). I am now moving in a different direction, though the columns that I write are still book-centric. Instead of writing reviews, I'm offering you columns on topics that have been inspired by wonderful books that I have read. I tell you about the books in question, and describe how they have have impacted me. This may sound peculiar to some of you, but the books that I tend to choose are ones that resonate with me on some level. Therefore, when I read the last page and close the covers, I am not quite the same person that I was when first I started reading the book. The shift in my perspective might be miniscule, but it is still there. The books I am looking are both about adult and children's titles. Some of the children's titles will appeal to adults, while others will not. Some of the adult titles will appeal to younger readers, particularly those who are eager to expand their horizons.

Friday, March 25, 2011

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Book Eighty-Four

When you are a cat without a home or a person to love, life can be very grim indeed. In today's picture book you are going to meet a little black cat who goes on mission to find a very special kind of person to adopt him.

Emily Horn
Illustrated by Pawel Pawlak
Picture Book
Ages 5 to 7
Charlesbridge, 2004, 1-58089-103-9
   Herbert the black cat is a lonely little fellow, and since he has no one to play with, he spends a lot of time in the library. One day he reads that witches often keep black cats as pets. Surely if Herbert can find one of these wonderful stripe-stockinged, black-hatted, cauldron stirring, broom riders, he will also find someone who will want to take him in.
   So Herbert sets out trying to find a witch to be his friend. The poor cat meets people who wear striped stockings, who wear black hats, who stir a cauldron, and who have a broom, and yet none of them is a witch. Indeed some of them are mortified when Herbert asks them “are you a witch?” Is Herbert going to find what he is looking for after all? Maybe he isn’t looking in the right place.
   This story about a youngster who is trying to find a home and a friend is both amusing and touching. Readers will not be able to help feeling sorry for the lonely little cat who wants so much to have someone in his life to talk to and to be with. Bold large pastel drawings capture the innocence of the little cat and the importance of his search.
   

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