Cat lovers, here is a book for you.  That is, if you’re a fancier of feral cats.  Naturalist Jean Craighead George’s interest in cats began years ago when her daughter’s cat presented her kittens, rather formally, to the family.  For years, Ms. George has read about and observed feral cats.  This book, about a boy’s efforts to befriend a feral cat, is the result.

With life-like illustrations to make the cats seem real, I was fascinated by this disparate group of cats who had gathered around a railroad station where an elderly lady fed them.  I spied on their sunning spots, their hunting grounds, and their uncanny ways of sensing where to find shelter and food.

However, when the cats gather in Mrs. Dibber’s basement to ride out a snowstorm, I was rooting for the cats, but couldn’t keep from thinking how terrible that poor woman’s basement must have smelled by the time the cats moved on.  That’s one detail Ms. Craighead George didn’t mention.