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This book, Cinder the Cat, is one of the first offerings from Plumfield Press. It is a reprint of a public domain book, lovingly reproduced with upgraded color pictures and glossy white paper. Cinder the Cat is a lovely story but it was a bit difficult to categorize this book for the review. It has many more pages than does the usual picture book but it does have a lot of pictures and simple text like a picture book. The text is clearly designed to teach reading to young students, managing to tell a delightful story but at the same time maintaining the simplicity and repetition that is good for children learning to read. It is separated into chapters, so perhaps one might finally classify it as a first easy chapter book, something akin to the Cowboy Sam book series but much easier than the Clyde Robert Bulla books.
Cinder is a coal-black cat who lives in Mr. Cook’s toy store, in a little town that has the feel of the 1890s or perhaps the early 1900s. In the toy store, Cinder likes to sit in the sun and look out of the front window, lives in a basket in the corner of the store, and has the job of keeping out mice, which is a realistic job for an indoors cat. Each chapter is a slice of life in that little town, with a policeman, who I mentally persisted in calling Policeman Small, a boy and his father looking for a birthday present for the boy, and a new family with a baby girl who move in over the toy store, which is the case in towns and cities – mixed residential and commercial spaces. The interaction between Cinder and the little girl is very sweet. The book is written almost from the point of view of the cat, which gives an additional interest to the simple narrative. Excitement comes in through kittens and a fire in the toy store, where Cinder and the night policeman are the heroes!
I loved the detailed realistic pictures, which have an old-fashioned feel and several colors. A child will look intently at these pictures, which will help them to decode and understand the text.