"Purrfect" Cat Tales storytelling (09/10/2011)
| Venue | ： | Exhibition Hall, Tsimshatsui Book Centre, The Commercial Press, Shops B1007-1010, B1/F., Miramar Shopping Centre, 132 Nathan Road, Tsimshatsui |
| Speaker | ： | Mrs. Jan Mann |
| Organiser | ： | Blooming Club |
Review
Our Exhibition Hall was packed out with cat lovers on 9 October! This was because for the first time, Blooming Club featured two books on the same subject - our feline friends - by two famous children's authors, Margaret Read MacDonald and Linda Newbery.
Jan Mann, Blooming Club's honorary advisor, was our storyteller for the day. Fat Cat, a Danish Folk Tale, retold by Margaret Read MacDonald, is about a greedy cat who lives with Mouse and who eats everything in sight… from the 35 hand-made Mouse pies to the washlady, her washtub, a troop of soldiers and their swords. Cat tantalizes his taste buds by eating even a king and his elephant! But when Cat swallows Mouse and her sewing basket, Mouse cuts her way out to freedom! The short sentences, rhymes and refrains kept the story flowing as well as making it natural for the children to chant along excitedly with Jan, especially during the "slip, slorp, slurp" bits.
Linda Newbery's Cat Tales: The Cat With Two Names coincidentally is about a cat who is also eating too much because it has two sets of owners. Not only does she enjoy double the meals but double the attention. Not until it is accidentally shut in another neighbour's garage when both owners finally meet each other. The cat loving audience was hooked by this charming and comic story and enjoyed sharing with Jan titbits of their domestic pets.
For readers who want more purrfect tales by the award-winning author, other cat tales in the series include The Cat Who Wasn't There, Ice Cat, Smoke Cat, Rain Cat and Shop Cat.
Among many other favourite cat stories, we cannot forget Judith Kerr's Mog the Cat books and Inga Moore's Six Dinner Sid who out-eats Linda Newbery's cat with SIX owners and then gets to go on a Highland Holiday with them because they are all so worried about who will feed Sid if they go away!
