Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World (US Link) and Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World (UK Link) are now available for ordering on Amazon and Amazon UK. The titles will start populating at other booksellers in the coming days.
You can see the table of contents on my previous post at New Book: Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World.
The first question I am asked when I have mentioned this book in the last few years is, "Do you love cats? Why a cat book?"
Well, to be honest, no, I am not a cat lover although I love books and have worked as a librarian, stereotypical cat lover stuff. I am allergic to cats which has given me a very difficult relationship with them over the years. My husband has developed a severe allergy to them even worse than mine that will send him into a migraine if we aren't prepared to take preventative measures. So no cats in our home.
But that doesn't mean I don't love the folklore about cats. I've been studying and reading folklore for decades now and cats are a regular tried and true entity in many tales. I've been collecting stories in all sorts of categories for years. Honestly, I thought this book would be "easy" since I already had so many stories. But as I read and researched more, I kept adding tale types and other stories to the collection. I finally reached capacity and was only deleting good stories to make room for other ones. It was time to stop and share with the world. After searching through over 1,000 folklore, fairy tale, and cat books, I was done. The primary bibliography for the book has 150 sources. The results are diverse, fascinating and hopefully fun.
As I looked at other "cat books" of recent years, one of the concerns from readers in the reader reviews was animal cruelty and portrayal of cats. I can explain here that while there are a few examples of cats as victims in these stories, the vast majority of the tales focus on cats winning. The cats use cunning, flexibility, loyalty, and many other of their natural qualities to triumph in their stories. Conversely, they are rarely portrayed as evil either, even in the Witches and Cats stories. This book is a celebration of cats in all their glory with very few stories that will raise alarms.
So I hope you enjoy! On Monday, I will start sharing more in depth about the tales inside.
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