When we were young, my sisters and I would spend a few weeks at our great-aunt's house each summer. She has a whole wall of bookshelves in one room downstairs, and I always picked out some to read during our stay. Mr. Blue is one I remember well. It is a charming little book about a big, blue cross-eyed cat who talks (he must be part siamese). There's lots of lively pen and ink drawings illustrating the pages. Mr. Blue shows up one rainy day outside a third-grade classroom window, and the kids convince their teacher to let him inside. Before long Mr. Blue has established himself as the classroom cat, even though his curiosity and playfulness cause plenty of trouble. The story is not without suspense, as several times Mr. Blue disappears and the children get anxious about him. My daughter did, too. This is the first book I've read to her from my own collection, and she loved it! We spread the story out over several days, and she was quite willing to pause and utilize the bookmark each evening because she wanted to be sure there'd be more to read the next night! Now she wants to read it over and over again because "Mr. Blue is really cool." For some time I have been setting aside on one shelf all the books I want to share with her someday: Ramona Quimby, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, James and the Giant Peach, The Secret Garden, etc. This is the first one we've opened (it's the simplest story, with the most pictures) and it was a delightful experience. I can't wait to introduce her to more!Rating: 3/5 72 pages, 1963
I haven't read this one in particular but remember some of the others you mentioned with fond memories. My great-aunt also had a fabulous library that I loved to browse through. Not too many children's books, though. How old is your daughter?
ReplyDeleteShe is almost four (in two months).
ReplyDeleteWow... Glad to put the bookmark in so there'd be more to read the next night! Delay of gratification in an almost-4-year-old is pretty remarkable! Mr. Blue must be cool indeed.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a charming book. I need to get a copy for my classroom.
ReplyDeleteJanet- he is very cool. I think my favorite thing about the book is how he talks. His cat-noises are spelled like words: "yin!" for "in", "nankyu" for "thank you", "nwhy?" for "why?" It's really funny and I can read the words aloud and imagine hearing a cat make that noise like a word!
ReplyDeleteBookgal- I don't know if it's still in print, but I do hope you can find it and that your class enjoys it.