The Three Legged Cat

by Margaret Mahy, Jonathan Allen (Illustrator)

Tom, Mrs Gimble's cat, would dearly love to see the world, but his peg-leg keeps him at home ...

Cyril, Mrs Grimble's brothe, wouldn't have to give up his roving ways if only he could keep his head warm ...

Mrs Gimble just wants to be left in peace with a stay-at-home cat that doesn't eat too much ...

Find out if their wishes come true in this wonderfully funny tale of mistaken identity.

Genres: Picture Books, Cats, Childrens, Fiction, Travel, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Margaret Mahy was a well-known New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. While the plots of many of her books have strong supernatural elements, her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up.

Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.

For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.

On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom the three-legged cat longs for adventure in this picture-book from celebrated New Zealand children's author Margaret Mahy, while his human, Mrs. Grimble, longs only for a pet who gives as little trouble as possible, and eats as little food as necessary. When Mrs. Grimble's rather disreputable world-traveling brother Danny shows up for his annual visit, mourning the decrepit state of his fur hat, an unexpected mishap leads to happiness for all three...

Although long an admirer of Mahy's young adult fiction - The Tricksters is a personal favorite - I have only recently discovered the pleasures of her picture-books, from hilariously surreal stories like The Boy Who Was Followed Home to entertainingly poetic selections like Bubble Trouble . Unfortunately, The Three-Legged Cat, which I picked up on impulse this past weekend at the library, didn't quite live up to my expectations. It was a fun little story - I can definitely see younger children enjoying the silly mistake that leads to Tom's great adventure - and the artwork is colorful and engaging, but somehow I wasn't quite as impressed as I'd hoped to be. Maybe I had trouble suspending my disbelief, when it comes to a cat acting as a fur hat? In any case, this was a surprisingly low three stars for me, and won't be making any "favorites" list.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Three-Legged Cat' is very much a case of mistaken identity. which leads to an intriguing result.

Tom is Mrs Gimble's three-legged cat who would like to get out and see the world. But his incapacity, he has a wooden fourth leg, prevents him getting about very far. He, therefore, spends much of his time curled up in the house on whatever he finds comfortable, that is except on the many occasions that he demands food from Mrs Gimble..

Mrs Gimble has a brother who is a rover and he only calls to see her when he is in the area once in a very good while. And he calls one day, as he says, for 'a cup of tea and a chin-wag'. He is bald so to keep his head warm he always wears his trademark fur hat, which he doffs and leaves on the arm of the chair in which he is sitting.

When it is time for him to go, telling Mrs Gimble he will see her the following year on his next trip to town, he puts on his hat and away he goes.

It is not until he is well on his way that he realises that his head is lovely and cosy and by the time he gets to the coast, with the se in sight, he is decidedly warm. And by that time Tom has woken up and he sees the sea for the first time in his life ... so you know what has happened!

And at home Mrs Gimble is so pleased that she is not feeding Tom as often as she previously had to!

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned about this book in a Jane Lindskold blog. Glad I did. My 3 & 1/2 year old swore he didn't want to read a book, but I started anyway. Soon he was in my lap. He asked me to read it again later.

[Mary Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun, light-hearted story that is perfect for the child who loves adventures! It begins with a woman complaining about her three legged cat, who simply wants to travel around the world. When her brother comes to visit, he may confuse his furry hat with the curled up sleeping cat...

[Molly Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary
The book follows an orange cat with three legs. The cat is unlike a drifter, it lives with an old lady. One day a dirty drifter comes in for a cup of tea. When he leaves the cat poses itself as the drifter's orange wig. The cat is finally able to see the world with the drifter unlike he had seen it before. The cat's eyes are opened when he discovers things about the world are not what he originally believed.

Theme
The major theme of the book is to travel and see the world from your own eyes. I believe the book perfectly portrays the idea of falsely imagining the world compared to truly seeing it.

Personal Response
When I was younger I would imagine what the world looked like before I saw it. I believe many children would enjoy this book because it helps them understand imagining is not seeing. I know this book would have helped me understand the world unlike I did at a very young age.

Recommendation
I recommend this book for very young children who have not yet seen the world for their own eyes. I believe children use their imagination to fill the gaps of what they have not yet experiences. This book would help them understand that the world may not be what they originally imagine.

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two siblings are completely unalike - the short-sighted Mrs Gimble wants a quiet life with a quiet cat and cares a lot about keeping up appearances, whereas her brother Cyril wanders the world, keeping his bald head warm with a 'revolting, moulting Russian hat'. He visits once a year and on this occasion mixes up Mrs Gimble's cat, Tom, with his hat - a fortuitous mix up as Tom wants to be a prowling cat but has troubles with his wooden leg, and Cyril's hat was getting a bit too thin to keep his head warm.

A silly story with big, fun illustrations by Jonathan Allen. I also learned a new phrase: "dot-and-go-carry-one". Apparently "Dot and carry one is a technique used when adding numbers in a ledger. In effect you place a dot in the first column and then add a unit to the next column (known as carrying one)." And it is a "rather dated British figurative phrase for a person with a limp". It felt really out of place in this picture book!

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review contains information that would be spoilers for the child reader.

Tom, the three-legged cat, wanted to travel, but it was difficult with only three legs. Instead, he dreamed of prowling the world, which worked well because he lived with Mrs. Gimbel who wanted a cat that slept all the time and was quiet.
One day Mrs. G's brother Cyril came to visit. She was very uncomfortable with him there because he was a prowler of the world and she didn't want her nosy neighbours knowing he was in her house. When he put on his hat to leave, he didn't realize he'd instead picked up Tom who looked just like his hat!
Mrs. G. was happy to have such a quiet cat - that was actually her brother's hat.
Funny story, with a happy ending.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, that's pretty darn cute. Avl. on openlibrary.org.

Btw, the reviewers who talk about a prowler or drifter are confused. It's always just the brother Danny. Mrs. Gimble is worried about the neighbors' "whispers" because she is attached to the idea of being respectable, and Danny has itchy feet and a weird hat and just doesn't "fit" Mrs. G's image as a member of her ideal family.

[Emily Nofziger]

This book was such a pleasure to read! The idea of a 3 legged cat going on an adventure around the world because he was mistaken for a hat made me smile, and sends the message that the world must be explored, and the message that no disability can stop you from perusing your dreams.

[Lucy Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this delightful book so much, spent an afternoon looking for it after having forgotten the title and author. Ordered from a used book seller to share with the grands.

[Paul Graham Terpstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. What we want isn’t always what we wanted! Great cross over other their possessions

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me smile. 5 stars.

Will watch the video on prime later. :)

[Spencer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gift from Harper's grandmother

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute, the cat seemed much happier going off travelling with the brother than at home with the strange lady who preferred her cats to be still, silent, and not needing to be fed.

[Mariam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the story I just wish it had a more exciting way to end. It felt like it was rushed.

[Lindsay Fischer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tom the tabby cat dreamed of seeing the world, but he had only three legs. Mrs. Gimble was a boring widow that wished Tom would just sit still. Mrs. Gimble's brother Danny loves to travel the world, but his trusty hat is getting old and it isn't as warm. It is only by chance that all three get their wishes. Danny mistakes a sleeping Tom for his fuzzy hat and takes off to travel the world. His new "hat" is very warm and Mrs. Gimble's new "cat" is very still. Tom finally gets to see the world. The funny story of chance shows that anything can happen.
The visuals in the story aide the reader in making guesses as to what will happen next. The first page shows Tom all curled up sleeping. A few pages later, the reader gets to see Danny's hat, that looks a lot like Tom. When Danny visits Mrs. Gimble, he takes off his hat and there is an orange fluffy ball on the top of his chair. This makes the reader question whether or not the fuzzy item is a hat or a cat. On Danny's way out, the illustrator reveals Tom's face on Danny's head. On the following page, Tom is awake and his peg leg is showing. This type of crazy situation would make kids laugh a lot.
The characters in this book are very realistic. Mrs. Gimble is a grumpy lady who enjoys the comfort of her home and cares very much about what others think of her. Danny on the other hand is a wanderer. He loves to travel and has no permanent address. The illustrator makes the differences in their personalities very clear through their clothing. Mrs. Gimble wears conservative pink clothing that blends in with the rest of her house, which is also pink. The similarity of her clothing choices and house decorations show her narrow-mindedness. Danny's clothes contrast Mrs. Gimbles house well, with bold colors like red, black and blue. His vest and choice of hat show his love for travel as they look like they belong in a different culture. This story uses funny characters to introduce different types of people to children in an appropriate way.

[Catherine Mayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There was once an old tabby cat called Tom who longed to prowl around the world … But Tom was a three-legged cat. Prowling was difficult with only three legs.” So begins one of the most stunning of a vast collection of stunning books by Margaret Mahy, full of humour, word play and whimsy in equal measure.

Tom is an instant hero for young children, through his thwarted dreams of travel and adventure, his wooden leg and his endearing cat skills – sleeping and eating. He lives with Mrs Gimble of Number Seven, Cardamom Lane – a great example of Mahy’s flair with names – who is definitely not interested in prowling at all. So much so that annual visits for a cup of tea and a bit of a chin wag from her swagman brother Cyril are a source of such embarrassment to Mrs Gimble (her neighbours don’t prowl but they do PRY) that she weeps into the teapot when – horrakapotchkin! –Cyril comes to call yet again.

Cyril fears his swagging days may soon be over. The shaggy Russian hat that has kept his bald head warm is not doing its job as it should. But then an accident of mistaken identity changes both Cyril’s and Tom’s lives for ever …

Jonathan Allen’s illustrations are fabulous, matching the magic and wit of Mahy’s words to make this very much a twin tour-de-force of a book. Never mind that the opening line has Tom as a tabby; Tom’s shaggy ginger coat is as irreplaceable as an image as alliteration is to the text.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom dreams of roaming the wide world-tricky for a three legged cat. Mrs. Gimble dreams of a cat that doesn't want to roam or eat her out ofn house and home-unlike her fat cat Tom. Danny dreams of keeping his head cozy-warm on his last around the world jaunt-not likely when all he has us a revolting, molting hat. But when that orange hat looks remarkably like a napping cat, strange things scan happen and dreams can come true.

Tom finds himself traveling the wide world on the head of Danny and fulfilling the dreams that he has always had.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom is a three-legged cat who has a roaming spirit, but can't take to the road because of his physical limitation. He lives with Mrs. Gimble who doesn't approve of roaming at all and wishes her cat would just curl up and sleep and not eat so much. Mrs. Gimble has a roaming brother named Danny who wanders around with a tattered, molting Russian hat. He visits once a year and after this last visit he grabs a sleeping Tom instead of his hat. So, Tom gets to roam with Danny and Mrs. Gimble has a hat-cat that does exactly what she likes.

Cute illustrations.

[Joenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw the title, I just had to give it a try. A story of a cat who has only 3 legs, and a stump for the 4th. The cat wishes to see the world, but cannot because of his legs. The cat lives with a woman who has a nomad brother. One day, the brother came to visit, and when he left, accidentally put the cat on his head instead of his furry hat. The cat was able to see the world just like he wanted to.

[NATUI · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thrift store find that was a FIND. We love this book nearly more than any other we own. It's a great read aloud book, the characters are great, and it gave us a great catch phrase!

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can faintly recall teachers reading this to us and I loved it!!! Wasn't there a Christmas version too?! Or am I going mad?

[Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very funny book... thoroughly enjoyable and light-hearted.

[Nancy]

Weston Woods streaming video on READS.

[Müge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly one of the most outstanding children's books I've ever read with gorgeous illustrating. I suppose it's my favourite. I absolutely love it. Too bad it's difficult to get copy these days.

[Mops · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best New Zealand picture books ever.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly.

[James]

DVD Reading of Story