Ghost Cat

by Mark Abley, Karen Reczuch (Illustrator)

Miss Wilkinson lives with her adored cat, Tommy Douglas, whose eyes glow a brilliant orange. But Tommy Douglas is 17 years old. When he becomes ill and dies in Miss Wilkinson’s arms, she buries him in the garden and plants a rosebush on his grave. Despite her determination to keep busy, grief and loneliness make it difficult for Miss Wilkinson to enjoy life. Then one morning, after a particularly troubled night, she discovers that the rosebush she planted has bloomed with brilliant orange flowers — the color of Tommy Douglas’s eyes.

Genres: Cats, Death, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 23, 2001

About the author

Mark Abley is a Rhodes Scholar, a Guggenheim Fellow, a husband and a father of two. He grew up in Western Canada, spent several years in England, and has lived in the Montreal area since the early 1980s. His first love was poetry, and he has published four collections. But he is best known for his many books of nonfiction, notably Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages and The Organist: Fugues, Fatherhood, and a Fragile Mind.

His new book, Strange Bewildering Time: Istanbul to Kathmandu in the Last Year of the Hippie Trail, describes his travels across west and south Asia in the spring of 1978. Mark kept detailed journals during his three-month journey, allowing him to recreate his experiences from the standpoint of a much older man.

In 2022 Mark was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Saskatchewan for his contributions to the literary community.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

An elderly woman's beloved cat dies. After burying him in her yard, she has the distinct sensation that he's still with her. Why on earth anyone thought this would make a great children's book I'll never know! Does any child really want to read about old people and dead pets?

This is really a two-star read, though I've added an extra sparkly for Karen Reczuch's lovely watercolors.

[Eva Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this old lady has this BEAUTIFUL old cat named Tommy Douglas, and he's a BLACK cat, which is the kind we almost got, except we got SPOT instead, who's a SHE and she's ORANGE.
But anyway, this old lady LOVES that cat Tommy SO much, but then he dies, so they bury him in the garden, and you'd THINK that'd be the end of the story, but guess what? After that cat's been dead for a while and the old lady's all missing him and stuff, Tommy's GHOST visits her. And then she wakes up and there's FLOWERS growing on the plant that they put in the ground over his body.
So that's a happy ending, even if it IS a little creepy.
So this is a GOOD one!!

[Juliana Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the style of almost 20 years ago, this story is told with many more words than necessary, but introduces readers to an old woman and her coping with the death of her beloved cat. After a long life together, the cat eventually dies in her arms and the woman lays him to rest in her garden under a rose bush. The bush doesn't bloom until the cat returns as a ghost/memory.

[Jill White · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad, sweet book for children about a black cat called Tommy Douglas whose eyes would 'flash like liquid flames.'

[Allison]

This book gets no stars. Almost cried while roving.