I had never realized it, but I have been a fan of Ursula Le Guin since I was seven. This was when I first read the children’s story Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings, which she wrote. It was not until now, that I put the title and the author together and realized that this was one of my favorite books when I was younger. I just couldn’t resist; I had to re-read it. So I went down to my basement, dug through boxes of dusty children’s books, and eventually found it.

Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings is one book in a series of stories about the Catwings. It is the fun story of an adventurous cat named Alexander who wanders away from his home. He explores his new surroundings, and in doing so encounters some of the dangers that can face a kitten in the world. He eventually gets scared up a tree by some dogs and remains stuck up there. Eventually, he is rescued by a cat who can fly and is brought back to a barn where other cats with wings live. He is made welcome and stays for a while before his owners find him.

The book is cute, written to please young, imaginative minds. It is clearly intended to be a children’s book, so it would be foolish to try and analyze it any other way. It is therefore not one of Le Guin’s most elegant bits of writing, but who cares! The book is fun, and I remember loving it as a child. It also has hidden humor in spots, like this passage from page 14 where Alexander is stuck in a tree and encounters one of the winged cats:

But the bird kept coming straight at him, looking at him, and its eyes were round and golden, like the Owl’s eyes. Alexander shut his own eyes and tried as hard as he could to look like a pinecone.

The branch jiggled a little.

Alexander opened one eye.

On the very end of the branch sat a strange, black bird. A strange, black bird with whiskers, and four paws, and a long tail. A bird that purred.

“Are you a catbird?” Alexander whispered.

The book won’t blow you away stylistically or open your mind to the problems of the world, like many other Le Guin books, but it will bring you back to childhood. And that is a pleasure in itself.

           

Children's books are too much fun. I had to read it!