Recently I read The Tiger Who Came to Tea. It was the first time–yes, I’m decades late to the party–and I loved it. This started me on a quest to read everything by Judith Kerr. This led me to read her 1970 picture book Mog the Forgetful Cat.
Mog the Forgetful Cat is good. The images are pleasant and engaging. They are well-placed on the page and show strong awareness of how cat move, and in some cases, don’t: the little image of Mog forgetting what she’s doing in the middle of washing her leg and leaving the leg in the air really captures cats.
The story’s premise is right the title: Mog both forgets things, or appears to do so, and does things that a kid’s mind would see as forgetting things, like meowing for humans to let her in the house rather than going through her cat door because she’s forgotten (rather than, say, simply being cat contrary). There are a number of smile-producing interaction between Mog, her family, and the world, and in almost all of them, things go badly for Mog because she’s “forgotten.” However, in the twist ending, Mog meows loudly to be let into the house, scaring a burglar and saving the day.
This book is good in all ways and definitely worth a read. It is also, however, not nearly so original or magical as The Tiger Who Came to Tea. In fact, it is so much more…normal? that they barely seem created by the same person.
But good stuff. With a good fat cat.
