Hello faithful readers,

It’s Eddie here and I have some disturbing news.
Earlier this week, something terrible happened in the office. If you ask the humans, they’ll say it was a fabulous night filled with laughter and good friends, but for me…oh, I shudder to think of it.

 

You see, friends, I have long held the belief that I am the top cat around here. It’s always been this way and nobody has given me the impression that this would ever change. Until Wednesday night.

The party was for The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale. At first, I was excited to see a new cat book from Peachtree, but then I realized: nobody’s ever thrown me a party before. It even has its own website and facebook page! So there I was, in the middle of all this merriment, lacking the verbal ability to shout from atop the linen-draped tables that I, not Skilley, am the cat they should be praising! To get the message across, I had to resort to physical rather than spoken means. It really is too bad that MM cleaned up the broken glass and tipped over trashcan that I left as a message to everyone. Now they’ll never know (unless they read this post, of course).

This grand celebration, I fear, is a sign of changes to come. Am I to be dethroned by this Skilley character I keep hearing about? Everywhere I turn, there are cats popping up in Peachtree books and instead of celebrating each addition of feline fiction, I’m now riddled with fear. Will they be just as threatening to the order of this office? It’s bad enough that today is apparently ‘National Dog Day’ and people everywhere are proclaiming the slobbery, clumsy creatures as ‘Man’s Best Friend,’ but no–I also have to take refuge from those in the office singing the praises of this Cheshire Cheese cat. And what kind of cat eats cheese anyway?

 

I’ve wanted to take count of our cat vs. dog books for a while now. It never hurts to know where you stand as far as how many cat and dog lovers there are in your midst and I figure you can’t argue with numbers. If I’m going to be knocked from my pedestal, I’d much rather it be because of another cat rather than a dog. So, let’s see shall we?

 

Dog Books:

 

Camp K-9 features a pup going to camp and coming to terms with a bully poodle (Sounds about right to me). It ends well though and is a sweet story, I have to admit.
The Blue House Dog is about a boy and a dog–it’s pretty powerful even if it does star a dog. I think a cat could have done just as good a job in this leading role, but nobody asked me. Still a good read!
This one, First Dog Fala, is about FDR and his dog–again, a pretty cool book, but you never hear people talk about First Cats. This has always bothered me.
Bark Park is a simple picture book for little kiddos with lots of pictures of all the different kind of dogs at the park. Again, dogs everywhere!
Larabee is pretty funny–he waits and waits for someone to send him some mail, but really, who writes letters to a dog? Maybe to a cat, but not a dog. I think he finally gets a letter in the end though. If he didn’t, even I would find that cruel.
This one is about the sinking of the S.S. Ethie and how a dog saves a bunch of people. Again, a cat could have easily done the same heroic deed, but noooo. Although, I think it’s a true story, so maybe I’m being harsh.
SeaMan is the dog who accompanied Lewis and Clark–again, it’s historical so I can’t really mess with it too much.

Cat Books:

This book is about a very curious cat and has these really cool illustrations–I think I’ve seen plans around here to do another book with this illustrator soon…

 

This book features a few different animals, but the cat made the cover, so it counts as a cat book for me!

 

Old Tom is a hoot. Seriously, if I ever meet him, I bet we’ll become great friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Tom again. That dude cracks me up!

 

This book isn’t about cats per se, but the cat, Figaro, is on the cover, so I’m counting it!

 

This is a cute story about a little kitten who finds a picture of a tiger and assumes they’re related. Of course they are, technically, which is another reason why cats are better than dogs. Our wild counterparts are lions and tigers. Dogs are related to…what, hyenas, right?
This book is a prime example of why cats should be called ‘Man’s Best Friend.’ I think I’ll do a review of it in October for National Cat Day!

 

This Cheshire Cheese book looks pretty good, I must admit. And the cupcakes at the party were scrumptious! (The humans thought they could outsmart me by hiding them, but they didn’t see that I swiped a couple! So yummy!)

 

Ol’ Bloo has a boogie woogie band and blues ensemble–yes that’s a rooster on a cat on a dog on a donkey. It’s awesome! (Though, I wouldn’t trust a dog enough to stand on its back…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ooh, it looks like we edged them out by one book! Eight cat books to seven dog books! In the interest of peace-keeping, we do have a book with both a cat and a dog and it’s pretty fantastic.

I’ll rest easy this weekend knowing that we at least have more cat books than dog books, even with the threat of the Cheshire Cheese cat taking over the office. A little friendly competition never hurt anyone…

Until next time, this is Eddie signing off!