Remember how I said that a cat makes a better ‘man’s best friend’ than a dog? I just about flipped my lid when I saw this book: 

I Am Tama, Lucky Cat is a prime example of our superiority, so I decided to review it for National Cat Day! 

This beautiful book tells the Japanese legend of the beckoning cat. One day, deep in the mountains of Japan, a cat graces an old ruin of a temple with its presence and lets the monk and worshippers spend their days with it. This cat not only provides companionship for the people in the temple, but brings good luck and great fortune. Now that’s what I call a best friend! I’ve read it a couple of times–I hope the humans don’t find the copy I swiped; I do love a good book to read before bedtime. (It’s hidden under one of my cushions, so shhh—don’t tell!)

When I read this book I had never heard of the beckoning cat. So, naturally (being a cat and all), my curiosity was piqued. Here are some really interesting things I learned about the beckoning cat since reading the book:

     – In its original Japanese, ‘beckoning cat’ is Maneki Neko.
     – The sculpture is typically made of ceramic and designed to look like a calico
        Japanese Bobtail cat
     – Sometimes the sculptures are made to be used as piggy banks–neat!
     – There are many beliefs about what each paw means when raised, but I have
       found that most center around bringing fortune or protection.
     -While it is believed that Maneki Neko first appeared between 1603 and 1867
       in Japan, the earliest documented evidence is a newspaper article dated 1876.
     -It is commonly believed the higher the raised paw, the greater the luck.

If you ask me, this cat Tama makes a great best friend for the monk and the worshippers in the story. Cats in general are clearly superior–even the cheese-eating one would make a better friend than a dog! The three of us should team up and show these humans what’s what. I bet there’s contact information for them somewhere in all these files. 

 Once I find the info I need, I think I’ll email these fellow felines and see about forming a league of extraordinary cat companions. We’ll call ourselves…(wait for it)…The Cuddly Killer Kibble Eaters! Or something like that.

Until next time, faithful readers! Happy Reading!

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).

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.

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!