Here Comes the Cat! (Russian: Сюда идёт кот!, romanized: Syuda idet kot!) is a 1989 children's picture book by Frank Asch and Vladimir Vagin, published by Scholastic. Written in both English and Russian, it tells of a settlement of mice threatened by the ominous shadow of a big cat. Reviews were generally positive.

Plot

As the mice are going about their day, one mouse looks and sees a shadow of a cat, and gets in his balloon. The next day, a mouse is painting a picture of himself. The mouse in his balloon says, "Here Comes The Cat!". Next, we see some mice riding a train. The conductor sees the mouse in his balloon, forcing the conductor's train to go fast. Next we see Papa Mouse digging a hole. Then, Papa Mouse warns that the Cat is coming, forcing Papa Mouse to dig faster. Next we see the mouse in the balloon going to the fair. The mouse warns to the Ferris Wheel Mice: HERE COMES THE CAT! The Ferris Wheel Mice then get off the Ferris Wheel. Next the mouse in the balloon warns the same to the people looking at the beach, forcing them to leave and turn their umbrellas over into rafts. The sky gets dark, forcing the balloon (and mouse) to fall down. Mouse lands in the water. Underwater, he warns that the Cat is coming, forcing the sea creatures to get away. The mouse (then on a fish) says the same. He then runs to the city, warning that the Cat is coming. The other mice then run away. Mouse then goes into the movie theater to see Mouse in Love, where a Male Mouse and a Female Mouse are dancing together, until the Cat gets the Female Mouse. The Cat then sneaks into the Movie Theater. Then Mouse warns to the moviegoers that the Cat is coming. The townspeople all run away worried that the Cat is coming to town. The cat is then show, carrying a load of cheese. All the other mice run to get into one of the holes of cheese. After the mice eat cheese, the Cat drinks milk.

As the sun begins to rise, all the mice come to say Good Bye to the cat.

Style

Asch's text is in speech balloons, with English above and Russian below divided by a horizontal line.^[1]

Background

Author Asch and illustrator Vagin began work on Here Comes the Cat! in 1986 after they attended a Soviet-American children's-literature symposium; Asch based the manuscript on a dream he had afterward.^[2] "Relying on translators and couriers to shuttle notes and sketches halfway around the world," The New York Times Book Review reported in 1989, "the two artists [overcame the language barrier and] produced what they say is the first book designed by an American and painted by a Russian."^[2] They would later collaborate on other books, including Dear Brother (1992).^[3]

Thematic analysis

Judith Gloyer of the School Library Journal wrote, "Workable as a comic-twist story, [Here Comes the Cat!] could also be used as a vehicle to awaken children to such issues as prejudice, intolerance, cold wars, or world peace."^[1]

Reception

Although concerned about Asch's several English misspellings, Gloyer gave the book a positive review in the SLJ. "Tiny details in the pictures and word balloons," she said, "make this better for one-on-one sharing than for group study sessions."^[1] The New York Times Book Review was less enthusiastic: "Besides the symbolism inherent in the cooperative spirit of the project," said reviewer Arthyr Yorinks, "the work that might result from this kind of cross-pollination could be simply wonderful. I sadly emphasize 'could be,' for 'Here Comes the Cat!' is large on symbolism but lacking in wonder."^[2]

Animated short

In 1992, Weston Woods Studios adapted Here Comes the Cat! as a ten-minute animated short.^[4]

References