A Coat of Cats
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Cover Story
The anarchic hero of many daring adventures, William, as depicted on our cover by Thomas Henry in one of his effective, humorous pen and ink illustrations, is now a period piece. A William de nos jours illustrated by Tony Ross and aimed at a younger audience stands alongside him. This new William will be featured in adaptations of the stories by Martin Jarvis. Richmal Crompton, author of the William books, is the subject of this issue's Authorgraph. Thanks to Macmillan Children’s Books for their help with this November cover.
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A Coat of Cats
Illustrated by Ann James
An old woman lives alone with her family of seven cats until a man from the Town Hall has her re-housed and she has to leave her cats behind. When she returns to check on them one cold night, they keep her from freezing by making a coat of cats, and wriggle their way into her dreams, inspiring her to find new homes for them. Kroll's writing is somewhat uneven, with short, sometimes abrupt, sentences punctuated by evocative images or slipping into rhyme here and there: challenging to read aloud as the pace changes from page to page. More coherent are the jaunty, richly textured, expressive pastels of James' illustrations, which successfully convey characters of both people and cats and complement the text well. A warmly satisfying story overall.
