MAYA AND THE LOST CAT

Girl meets cat. Girl loses cat. Girl meets kitten.

When Maya spies a sodden, gray cat sitting on a rooftop in the rain outside her bedroom window, she tries to lure it inside. Cat ignores her efforts until she leaves an open sardine can (described as “a boatful of fish with a tiny tin sail”) outside her door. That does the trick! Cat gobbles up the fish, and then Maya goes out into her neighborhood to try to find the lost feline’s home, Cat trailing along behind her through the rainy night. There’s no mention of Maya’s family back at home, which lends a fantastic air to the storytelling that’s reinforced by the sonorous text. Magerl’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations bear a striking resemblance to Quentin Blake’s or Charlotte Voake’s art, with their loose lines and whimsical sensibility. But some are a bit hard to read, and readers might find themselves squinting through the busy lines to decode the action. Maya finally finds Cat’s owners on a houseboat, and their joyful reunion is bittersweet for the girl, who’s grown fond of Cat. But then Cat gives Maya “a small and cloudy gray bundle.” The little kitten, named Moby, is prone to seasickness. Maya, who presents white, happily brings Moby home to snuggle “in the waves and folds of [her] blankets.”

A cozy, quirky read.