#725 of 1001 · July 26, 2022

Margaret Hodges and Aki Sogabe create an appealing presentation of a Japanese legend in The Boy Who Drew Cats. The story begins with a child in a small village whose parents take him to the local temple so that he may learn to be a priest. However, his training is derailed by his compulsive habit of drawing cats at all possible times and on all possible surfaces—in books, on walls, on delicate paper screens. Finally, the miffed priest banishes him permanently. Despondent, the boy hopes to resume his studies at a large temple in the neighboring village. However, this temple has been taken over by a frightful goblin. Luckily, the young artist draws cats all over the walls before going to sleep. In the middle of the night, these cats come to life and kill the goblin, who has taken the shape of an enormous rat. The big grows up to be an artist, respected and admired by all who know his work. Hodges writes with compelling language, while Sogabe contributes dramatic illustrations made from a combination of cut-paper collage, watercolor, and airbrushing. A note for folklore enthusiasts: in the back matter, Hodges details the lineage of her source material. The boy in the story is based on legends of Sesshū Tōyō, a renowned fifteenth-century Zen-Shu priest and sumi-e artist. Though this particular story was first published in a pamphlet in Tokyo by Takejiro Hasegawa, Hodges works from a version in Japanese Fairy Tales (1918) by Lafcadio Hearn. #boy #cats #cat #temple #draw #drawing #goblin #rat #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks