2sDay: Two Cute Kitty Books to Read Right Meow!

Photo taken at NYC's Meow Parlour Cat Cafe

Hi hi, friends! I’m trying out a new weekly column for the rest of September where I’m spotlighting two books, movies, or TV shows with a shared theme every 2sTuesday. Because I can’t pass up a dad joke or dorky pun. 💁‍♀️

That said, this 2sDay is all about our pawsome feline furrends and furbabies! These cute kitty books are just the all-ages adorableness you need to get you through your week! 

Let’s pounce right into it! 

Jane modeling with Catwings book #4, Jane On Her Own. Ki(tten)smet?

Catwings by Ursula Le Guin

You may know Ursula Le Guin for her legacy as the epic fantasy author of the “Earthsea” series and the award-winning science fiction novel “The Left Hand of Darkness” but she was also a fiercely devoted cat lover! 

Her four-volume series of novellas about magical cats, the Catwings, are a sleeping beauty among Le Guin’s more well-known and well-read books.

This charming little series, beginning with 1988’s “Catwings” takes readers on a fantastical feline journey. When a litter of kittens is born in the chaos of a dirty city to a mama cat named Mrs. Jane Tabby, they’re instantly extraordinary. James, Harriet, Alexander and Jane Tabby have wings. Feathery, magnificent wings born from Ms. Tabby’s fervent wishes for her kittens to escape the grim drudgery of London, and go far beyond the city limits to make lives for themselves where there are plenty of trees, open skies, and clean air. 

So begins the kittens’ flight to the countryside where they encounter animals, the frighteningly vast forest, and come face to face with human “beans”. Country life is no picnic as these curious kitties soon find! 

The first Catwings book clocks in at a mere 48 pages and none of them are more than 60 pages. Written in a sweet and airy tone with a voice that’s simple enough for even the youngest of readers to enjoy this is an ideal storybook to read aloud, especially side by side with a child. There are full-color illustrations, lovingly drawn in in rich, textured pen and ink lines by award-winning artist S. D. Schindler.  There is such a living quality to the books that the kittens ( their silky fur and whiskers sticking out with curiosity!) practically leap out at us. 

It’s truly an enchanting experience to fall into any (and all!) of the Catwings books, each is a little gem in its own right.

Cozy kitty 'jamma pants are everythingggg.

Chi’s Sweet Home by Konami Kanata 

You don’t have to be a fan of manga to fall in love with the too-cute-for-words kitten Chi, the kitten at the heart of Konami Kanata’s 12 volume series “Chi’s Sweet Home”. Previously published in Japan in weekly magazines in the early 2000s, Chi’s Sweet Home has finally made its way onto American bookshops and libraries.

Following the adventures of Chi, a gray and white tabby who is taken in off the streets by a little boy named Yohei, Chi’s Sweet Home is more like a graphic novel than a traditional manga. Each novel is broken up into little vignettes much like a comic strip following Chi’s adventures as she goes from lost kitten, to a mischief-making apartment interloper discovering everything for the first time. All 12 books in the series boast full-color illustrations with a bright, vivid and playful aesthetic. 

With a pallet that is as whimsical and fun as a walk in an magical garden in the springtime Konami Kanata’s charming and energetic art makes reading each page feel like an instant burst of happiness! Seeing precious little cinnamon roll Chi batting around a string, springing into action when faced with an oh so irresistible paper bag, and trying her paws at hunting a bird, make it impossible NOT to smile when reading Chi’s Sweet Home. With translations that are concise and understandable Kanata’s joyous romp of a series will add infinite happiness to readers of all ages! 

So, furrends have you read Catwings or Chi’s Sweet Home? What are some of your favepurrate literary kitties or books?! 

All photos were taken and arranged by me.