A Cat in a Kayak

Ted McGee is an associate professor of English specializing in
children’s literature at St. Jerome’s College, University of
Waterloo.

The victim of a landlord’s ban on pets, Teelo finds feline happiness
when Victor takes him in and transports him to his cottage on Cloud
Island. Along with Teelo, Victor accommodates other proscribed pets: a
rooster and three hens (and the chicks they produce), then a terrier,
then a snake, and finally a parrot. For Teelo, “THINGS WERE
IMPOSSIBLE!” However, having visited Thunder Rock as a stowaway in
Victor’s kayak, and having dodged octopi, eagles, killer whales, and
crabs, Teelo returns to the bedlam of home with a new appreciation of
its comforts.

The story reflects the human qualities of the animals—for example,
Teelo loves to do yoga. Eugenie Fernandes’s illustrations are largely
naturalistic in style. An idyllic quality is suggested by soft lines,
certain shades of purple and green in the landscapes, some distortions
of form, and the framing of larger scenes by means of pastel “mats”
with ragged edges. Composition deepens this impression, as when we see
Teelo sleeping peacefully through a window festooned with flowers.
Composition also plays a crucial role in capturing Teelo’s experience
of bedlam when all the other pets move in as well as his more
frightening experience of the dangers of Thunder Rock.

Maria Coffey’s storytelling is assured and Fernandes’s pictures
complement it with sharp images of the West Coast. Recommended.