Puss in Boots

Charles Perrault first published his collection of classic French folk tales 300 years ago, including “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and this entertaining story about a most clever feline. In?ÿPuss and Boots, a poor miller dies and leaves his youngest son nothing but a cat. The son is none too happy about it, either; ” …once Ive eaten my cat and made a muff out of the fur, Im sure to starve,” he says. But what a legacy the bequeathed cat turns out to be! The cat in tall boots creates a new identity for the youngest son–the Marquis of Carabas, complete with fine clothes, fields of wheat, a castle stolen from an ogre, and in the end, the respect of the king and the hand of the kings daughter. The story itself is gracefully and humorously told, and the text, set in large gray type, adds an old-fashioned air to the tale.?ÿ
Fred Marcellinos illustrations for?ÿPuss in Boots?ÿare infused with golden light and summer warmth in the sun-dappled woods and beside the fields of ripe grain. Many of his paintings show a masterful use of perspective; the reader sometimes looks down on a scene as though from a balcony, or from below, at a huge charging lion. Marcellino has also illustrated a version of Hans Christian Andersens?ÿThe Steadfast Tin Soldier?ÿand two books by Tor Seidler,?ÿA Rats Tale?ÿand?ÿThe Wainscott Weasel. Young listeners wont soon forget this crafty character of a cat, who has a great deal of charm despite his less-than-honest means of helping his master.?ÿ(Ages 5 to 9)