Will & Nill

Meet two cats, Will and Nill, different in almost every way except that they are both, on this particular morning, very hungry. Will however decides to do something about it; off he goes in search of food and, or, distractions from a rumbling tummy – not his, but Nill’s. All that lazy Nill fellow wants to do is to loll around, basking in the sunshine. Pretty soon, Will is happily engaged in a game of hide and seek with a sparrow: Nill on the other hand, has gone back to sleep. The game proceeds and finishes; and that is when Will gets a whiff of something. Right there, protruding from the very bin behind which he’d found the sparrow, is something very desirable and very tasty – albeit rather pongy. What do you think Will does next: gobble down the entire delicacy on the spot or save a morsel for Nill?

There’s so much to enjoy here (there always is with Tiny Owl books – every one is a treasure within which is a thought-provoking notion, a philosophical consideration or a lesson about life; and sometimes, all of them.) Atieh Markazi’s cityscapes, wherein she places her wonderfully realised feline characters, are really striking and perfectly bring out the inherent humour of Hasanzadeh’s fable.