posted on 11 Apr 2020

Captain Whiskers by Jeremy Strong, illustrated by Matt Robertson

Are you at dog person or a cat person? Maybe you’re a hamster or guinea pig type of person? Or budgies and parrots are your bag? Or, perhaps like me, you’re not a fan of pets at all?

Jackson’s parents are on the same page as I am when it comes to pets; it’s a no thank you very much. But Jackson himself would love a pet – almost any pet. All his classmates seem to have them and even his teacher sometimes brings her parrot into school. Jackson thinks that maybe if he had a pet to keep him company it would make up for the fact that he finds it so hard to talk to other children and to make friends.

But it’s going to take a bit of a miracle to get himself a pet when his parents are so set against it – and that’s exactly what happens. When he’s on the way home from school one day, Jackson finds himself saving a cat from the attentions of a very aggressive dog and, rather to his surprise, the cat seems to become instantly very fond of him. When the cat’s owner shows up too, Jackson’s in for a real surprise because this eccentric ‘man with a top hat’ promises Jackson that he’ll send him a hundred cats of his own.

Of course, Jackson doesn’t think that’s really going to happen – until he gets home to find one hundred and one cats in the house and in the garden and they are all determined they are going nowhere else.

But hang on a minute. 101 cats? The man in the top hat said 100. Can’t he count? Or, is there 101 for a particular reason?

Well, obviously I’m not going to tell you. You’ll have to get a copy and find out for yourself.

This recent publication in the Barrington Stoke Little Gem series is guided for readers aged 5+ and like all Little Gems, this one is beautifully produced with a little bonus activity on the inside front cover.

The book has also been lavishly illustrated in colour by artist, Matt Robertson – and a fine job he’s made of it. There’s lots of full page illustrations and I just love the drawing of the magical ‘man in the top hat’. I’d like to meet him myself as long as he doesn’t off-load a hundred cats onto me!

 

Terry Potter

April 2020