The Dingles

Annette Lindsay was a special education teacher in Toronto.

The Dingles are a family comprised of Doris and her three cats — Donna, Dee Dee, and Day-oh. Life is sweet and comfortable until one afternoon when they are threatened by a hurricane and storm that tosses them all about like so much jetsam. Doris’s ingenuity and a bolt of lightning shoot them into the safety of their house, where they manage to revive themselves with a cup of cat mint tea and a hot bath. Life gradually returns to normal as they settle in for the night.

The plot is but a vignette, a moment in the lives of an old lady and her cats. What will excite children, however, are the splendid, off-the-wall illustrations by John Bianchi. They enliven the characters and make an otherwise mundane story memorable.