The Clever Cat That Could (Publish America)

Review by Dave Wolff
Author: Gia Lee

Not many children’s books are credited with drawing influence from Kipling’s The Cat That Walked By Himself. But this is where author Gia Lee says she decided to title this one with the word “that” instead of “who.” From this bit of information alone, this is not your average everyday children’s book. Rather, it’s a special tome in which its educational value takes a step beyond others written previously. The storyline is to the point, written with a flair that makes its mystical theme easy to swallow, without a feeling of moral lessons being forced down your child’s throat. Lee, who had six cats at the time she wrote this, states it’s from the point of view of a cat that prowled her neighborhood, visited her home often, and the cat would climb onto her windowsill. Seeing something human in the cat’s desire for companionship, she added the task of writing from the cat’s perspective was relatively easy. Placing you into the cat’s perspective has a way of demonstrating there is no difference between how a cat and a human feels; this is the message Lee passes on to readers from what she taught herself to understand. With several illustrations by the retro collectible collector and now internet TV (Youtube) hostess Rosemary Ward (http://screamer.alt-world.com, http://www.screamersrave.com) this tale comes alive in a truly unique, creative manner. A Youtube interview with Lee revealing some background information on this book can be viewed at http://youtube/cUJe5GiE1E4. 10/10