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Cats are A Young Boy's Bestfriend: "It's It's Like This, Cat" by Emily Neville Review

As promised, here is a review of my previous January Book Read post!

Light-hearted and one of the easiest to read books I've had for a long time, "It's It's Like This, Cat" by Emily Neville is a YA novel, so it's has a chipper flow of story, unlike most of the downer, heavy novels I've been reading lately. I couldn't have read it at an appropriate time where I wanted something nice and fresh: It's like opening a small window and getting a gentle breeze of cool air with a heavy rain-and-wet-grass smell. Very fresh indeed!

Review:



The story is about Dave Mitchell, a young boy in Brooklyn, New York, and living in the busy city with his parents, who are mildly dysfunctional like all other parents are. He loves listening to music, going around the neighborhood with his friends and his sense of curiosity often leads him to a good amount of discoveries.

At home, he is mostly annoyed by his father from time to time, so he drops by to the house of  an eccentric but cat-loving middle-aged woman who he befriends despite all her strangeness. That's where he meets Cat, a self-assured tomcat with a penchant for bolting off and getting in cat turf fights all the time.

Cat is a central driving force in the story and Dave's life. The tomcat is the reason why Dave met a lot of new friends along the way, get him into odd adventures from basements, different streets and even to the freeway. And through all these experiences, however harrowing some of them may be, he begins to understand the people around him.

The overall story is just delightful. It makes you feel like you're part of their adventures and funny experiences. There is a lot to be said about interaction between family members and friends, and how to treasure each of them. This book is especially great if you're a cat lover yourself! You can find how carefree, active and insightful Dave is, and reveals in a happier, more wholesome way that a cat is fine, too.

The book is peppered with illustration from an award-winning artist, Emil Weiss. Every sketchy piece reflects perfectly the feel and what's happening in the story.

I researched about this book and was not surprised when it won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature way back in 1964. I am especially thankful that Tookie, a friend of mine from the Reader's Circle, recommended it to me!

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for the next review, "Breathe Deeply" by Yamaaki Doton. That book/manga was intense. Kind of took me a long time to get over it. But that's for another post.

See you then :)

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