#Booky100Keepers Day 36: "Captain Cat" by Inga Moore (Walker Books)

We've often written #ReadItTorial pieces about the frustration of trying to write something that 'fits in with the rule book' of writing children's picture books. A great many of the books you'll find in our #Booky100Keepers list are books that have comfortably broken well away from that (hated) 32 page 12 spread 500 words or less 'pattern' that most emerging authors must stick to like glue. There's still a rotten assumption that kids are incapable of focusing their attention on a story for longer books, and I'm very pleased to say that "Captain Cat" by Inga Moore dispels that rubbish myth quite nicely.

A book that C has loved from an early age, a book her tiny cousins love, and a book that even now we pull off the shelf like an old friend, just to lose ourselves in its amazing classic-feeling storytelling world.

Inga is one heck of a talent, in fact she seems to have a knack for writing amazing books about cats (She also wrote and illustrated the utterly divine "Six Dinner Sid" - A book that doesn't feature in our #Booky100Keepers list only because we never got round to actually buying our own copy, borrowing it from the library many many times instead.

Anyway, we're here to talk about "Captain Cat" - the story of a benign and slightly eccentric sea captain who runs the trade routes in his amazing ship. The problem is the captain has the world's worst head for business - and he really, REALLY loves cats. So where other traders sell their spices and fine silks and foodstuffs for profit, the good captain usually ends up trading his cargo for moggies.

Soon he becomes old and tired, and realises that his days as a sea captain might be coming to an end. He takes one last trip with his kitties on board but instead of heading to the usual well known routes, he takes another - to wind up on the most fantastic and friendly island paradise.

Ruled over by a Princess, this island seems idyllic but as the captain sits down to dinner with his new found friends, a plague of filthy disgusting rats interrupts the meal. Can nothing be done about these pests? The captain has an idea or two...!

Soon his beloved moggies are put to good use, in fact they are so useful that they polish off the island's rat problem swiftly and surely. The young princess decides that she'd love to keep the captain's cats - and the captain realises that a life aboard ship can't possibly compare to living on a paradise island, and reluctantly bids his furry pals goodbye.

But that's not where the story ends. In fact this is why we love this book so much, it pulls you back in just as you think it's given all it has to give, and there's a fabulous little moral woven into the closing scenes as the good captain ends the story older, wiser and still surrounded by a zillion and one kittens.

As we said, it feels like a classic tale but also feels fresh, vibrant and original. Inga's illustrations are utterly glorious, her characters are vibrant, alive, and almost leap off the page at you, and who could possibly resist a book that is filled to the brim with hundreds of gorgeous moggies!

Original Review Link: 

Walker Books Summer Book Party - "Captain Cat" by Inga Moore. Purr-fect in every way!

Walker Picture Book Party - "We're going on a Cat hunt to celebrate Captain Cat by Inga Moore!"