[Read aloud to Adelle]
The Cat who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
This is another gentle Japanese cat story, following the story of Rintaro, a high school student who is left bereft by the death of his beloved grandfather, a reclusive owner of a second hand bookshop.
Rintaro is moping around in the bookshop one day, unable to face going to school and getting on with his life, when a talking cat enters the shop and takes him on some adventures.
These are a series of challenges where the cat shows Rintaro some people who have unhealthy relationships with books, and Rintaro helps them see the error of their ways and encourages them to respect books.
This is a story more about Rintaro recovering from the depression left by his grandfather and coming to terms with his life running the bookshop he was bequeathed and less about a talking cat. It is a charming story, with some interesting observations on the publishing industry and the place of technology in the future of written work. Albeit written from the perspective of a lover of books, the older and dustier the better – a perspective that resonates with me in some ways.
Who should read this book? Anyone with a love of kawaii Japanese cat stories, this is one of my favourites so far.