Calabash Cat And His Amazing Journey » (None)

Master storyteller James Rumford combines his love for art and history in his picture books. Each of his books is vastly different in its content, design, and illustrations but one aspect remains constant throughout his work: his passion about his subjects. Rumford, a resident of Hawaii, has studied more than a dozen languages and worked in the Peace Corps, where he traveled to Africa, Asia, and Afghanistan. He draws from these experiences and the history of his subject when he is working on a book. His book Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing was a 2005 Sibert Honor winner.

Calabash Cat, a West African cat, sets out one day to find where the world ends. His adventures take him across a desert, grasslands, a jungle, and the ocean, until he finds what he is looking for.
Illustrated in the style of the calabash engravers of the country of Chad, James Rumford’s original tale will keep you thinking long after you have closed the covers of this book—about our one world, and about seeking knowledge and finding wisdom.

Diane Frook - Children's Literature

Across the desert and the grasslands, through the jungle and over the ocean, Calabash Cat joins with a menagerie of different animals in his quest to find the end of the world. Each of his escorts, a product of his own environment, is convinced that when his world ends, so does the entire world. Calabash Cat learns otherwise, however, when the wise eagle takes him into the sky and shows him a wider view. Told with an economy of words and a simplicity of story characteristic of a folk tale, this story set in West Africa is easy enough for young readers to understand, yet carries a powerful message that older ones will also appreciate. The illustration style is well-suited to the story, using the "calabash" style of engraving from the African country of Chad. A hint of color is provided by a rainbow that threads itself, color by color, through the story, subtly paralleling the circular journey of Calabash Cat. The text is also repeated in Arabic; a gentle reminder of the story's message that the world is a very big place. This is a wonderful read-aloud that will hold up time and again. 2003, Houghton Mifflin Company, Ages 4 to 8.