Cats in their kingdoms

Press, 19 November 1988, Page 27

Cats in their kingdoms

The English Cat at Home. By Matthew Sturgis. Photographs by Toby Glanville. Pawprints by Tizzy. Chatto and Windus Books Reps, 1988. 160 pp $59.95.

(Reviewed by

Kay Forrester)

It is tempting to say this book is the cat’s whiskers and leave it at that; but that would not do justice to Matthew Sturgis’ text or Toby Glanville’s colour photographs. This is a book any true cat lover would beg for. Sturgis has visited several English cats — and their people — at home. His words paint pictures of the feline characters: Wilberforce of No. 10 Downing Street; the three white cats of Westminster Abbey; Snowy, the station cat at Bristol Temple Meads; the no-name cats on Ernie Morrow’s farm at Glenarm in County Antrim ... Beside the word pictures are Glanville’s candid camera shots of the cats at home. The book works well — not just because of its witty text and beautiful photographs, and, of course, the subjects themselves — but because of the happy marriage of all three. This is a cat-lover’s book in more ways than one. Reading it one cannot doubt the influence that Sturgis’ feline friend, Euphrates, and Glanville’s Max had. This book has been written and photographed by and about people under the particularly spell that only cats can weave. Should Sturgis ever take his typewriter and Glanville, his camera, to the Antipodes I know several people under that same spell and several cats that just might deign to give, an audience at home. Pets As Pals: How to look after your pet by Dr Peter Higgins. Simon and Schuster Hodder and Stoughton, 1988. 128 pp. $14.95. Peter Higgins is an Australian veterinarian who has bred and reared all of the pets he writes about in this useful book. “Pets As Pals” is simple and clearly set out — easy reading for the younger pet owners that Dr Higgins has in mind. It describes the benefits of having a pet, how to choose your pet, various types of pets and their needs, and sick animals including a section on knowing when euthanasia is necessary. Jack Newnham’s humorous illustrations highlight points the writer makes for young pet owners and their parents. The book carries the endorsement of the Australian Animal Welfare League for which Dr Higgins lectures. The league’s secretary suggests the book should accompany any pet given to a child. That is an excellent suggestion. The young readers will; in particular, enjoy Dr Higgins’ novel method of housetraining kittens.

Queen Cat and Other Stories, by Beverley Dunlop. Illustrations by Deirdre Gardiner. Hodder and Stoughton, 1988. 31 pp. $9.95. This slim volume is by a New Zealand author who has written many stories for the “School Journal” as well as four children’s novels. She won the 1982 Choysa Bursary for Children’s Writers. "Queen Cat” contains seven short animal stories for young readers. They have a distinctly New Zealand flavour. The stories first appeared in the “School Journal” and should appeal to the target age group of six to nine-year-olds. Mixed Company. By Anne Jacques. Dunmore Press, 1988. 68 pp. $14.95. Occasionally a book about small, furry creatures has the same charm as its subjects. Anne Jacques’ book is almost one of these. She writes from a belief that the more people know about animals the better they will treat them. "Mixed Company” draws from religion, mythology, history, and anthropology to provide a collection of fact and fiction about a variety of creatures. Cats, rats, and pigs and dogs and horses — even man — are given a chapter. Jacques has gathered a bewildering range of snippets of history and information, and the book is certainly interesting to read. Vivian Ward’s black-and-white drawings capture their subjects well. But the feeling lingers that it has all been put together at random — until one realises that reading about members of the mixed company for their own sake is enough.