Review: Simon’s Cat by Simon Tofield (with cat pics)

I don’t know what rock I was living under last year that I missed the Simon’s Cat YouTube phenomenon, but it was only recently that I heard about the Simon’s Cat films—two days, in fact, before Hachette put out a call for bloggers interested in reviewing the book Simon’s Cat by Simon Tofield. Needless to say, I put up my hand fast, although I was a bit worried that the concept would not translate well from animated film to page. I needn’t have worried: Simon’s Cat the book is just as laugh-out-loud funny as the movies. For those of you not in the know, Simon’s cat is no ordinary cat: for one thing he has opposable thumbs and, despite being hungry much of the time, he’s not as likely to eat the mice and birds he encounters as most cats would be. My favourite parts, however, are when Simon’s cat acts most catlike, because, to paraphrase what it says on the back cover of the book, I know (and live with) a couple of cats like Simon’s, as seen in the photos below. The funniest sequence of images for me was Simon’s attempts to get his cat into a cat carrier to take him to the vet, but it would have been cruel on my part to try to reproduce that one. I also loved how Tofield used not only traditional motion lines but also extra paws (drawn more faintly) to convey his cat’s movements. Finally, I found myself totally charmed by Simon’s cat’s odd friendship with a garden gnome. There were a couple of images I didn’t really understand, but no matter, that only means I’ll have to “read” the book again some time soon. I highly recommend this one to all the cat lovers out there!

Simon’s cat and Cairo on computer/printer

Thelma and Simon’s cat in suitcase

Simon’s cat and Cairo warming up next to heater

For other reviews of this book, visit these blogs:
Book Critiques • booktumbling.com • Chick with Books • Cindy’s Love of Books • Drey’s Library • Marta’s Meanderings • Socrates’ Book Reviews • Starting Fresh • Wendi’s Book Corner

Thank you to Hachette for sending me this book to review.

Hachette has generously agreed to sponsor a giveaway of five copies of this book on my blog! Come back on Monday for all the details.