This new version of the eerie English folktale features a considerably extended storyline from Shepard, for which Sorra supplies low-lit scenes of richly clothed cats among shadows and subtly twisted perspectives. Young Peter already has a reputation for wild stories, so when he tries to tell Father Allen that he’s seen a feline coronation in the church, then a royal hunting party of cats riding foxes, he’s not even allowed to finish. But when Peter brings Father Allen a tale of a royal funeral procession in the graveyard, the priest’s skepticism vanishes, because his own charcoal cat, Tom, stands up, proclaims himself King o’ the Cats, and leaps away up the chimney. A well-told, atmospherically illustrated replacement—at last—for the standard, but far-too-sketchy, Joseph Jacobs/Paul Galdone rendition (1980). (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
