ポテト・スープが大好きな猫

by Terry Farish, Barry Root (Illustrator), Haruki Murakami (Translator, Afterword)

村上春樹が選んだ魅力的な猫の絵本！
この冬、あなたの心を暖めるために。あなたの大好きな人へ贈るために。

この『ポテト・スープが大好きな猫』は、僕がある日アメリカの街を散歩していて、偶然みつけた絵本です。ぱらぱらとページをめくり、「うん、これはいいや」と思って買って帰り、机に向かってそのまま翻訳してしまいました。この本は、年取った雌猫好きの読者のみなさんには、きっと喜んでいただけるのではないでしょうか。――＜あとがきより＞

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

35 pages, Paperback Bunko

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

Terry Farish is a writer with a passion for writing the stories of people from many cultures. Her novels include THE GOOD BRAIDER, a YALSA and SLJ Best Book for young adults and EITHER THE BEGINNING OR THE END OF THE WORLD. Her picture books include LUIS PAINTS THE WORLD (Carolrhoda, 2016), illustrated by Oliver Dominguez, set in Lawrence, MA, and JOSEPH'S BIG RIDE (Annick, 2016) illustrated by Ken Daley about a boy from South Sudan. Through the New Hampshire Humanities Council, Terry leads literacy programs with refugee and immigrants. The New England Reading Association has awarded her their 2016 Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Contributions to Literacy.

Reviews

[Julia]

This story is so lovely and it makes me feel that happy ache inside

[Caterpickles]

The story of a cantankerous ol’ man and the uppity ol’ cat who liked his potato soup, which made the cranky ol’ man love that uppity ol’ cat “just a breath more, but not so’s you’d notice.” A heartwarming story, written in language that is a delight to read out loud. Reading it to The Five-Year-Old made me miss Texas.

[Beth]

Review: https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/200...

[Susanna Hargreaves]

This is a favorite tale for cat lovers. I promise you this story about an old man who likes to fish with his old cat will please even the toughest crowd. Friendship, understanding, loneliness, and communication are some of its themes. Just when you think you know someone, they surprise you...even a cat.

[Cat]

This story was so wonderful! I love when cats get paired up with men. Too often people think of them as being women's pets. This was a wonderful story about an old man and his relationship with his old cat. Artwork was wonderful.

[Mr. Canning]

Here's a good East Texas tale. It's told from the cat's point of view. The cat loves the man's potato soup. However, what happens one day when the man doesn't return home? What will the cat do? it's a very good friendship story.

[Heather]

Nice story. An old man who acts like he doesn't care about a cat, but he really does.
Use for character thoughts vs actions.

[Leigh]

I'm not sure why this book doesn't have better reviews. It feels true to southern heritage and the relationship between the man and the cat is so so so sweet! It was beautiful and very heart warming.

[Maddie Patty]

I loved this book. It is about an elderly bass fisherman and his cat.

[Kayla]

Cute story about an uppity cat and a grumpy old man. I loved how you were forced to read in the character's accents based on the writing and the sweet relationship between the characters.

[Leslie]

Sweet story about a man and his cat who take each other for granted, until they don't.

[Aileen Stewart]

I love potato soup, so of course when I made a recent trip to the library for some new books to review, The Cat Who Liked Potato Soup by Terry Farish immediately caught my eye. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this story as much as I enjoy soup. It's not that it was a bad story mind you, it's just that it didn't touch me like many other books have. To begin with, it is written with some very Southern vernacular and it seemed a semi-depressing story to me. The lonely old man and his cat seem happy enough together until a misunderstanding causes them to be separated temporarily. In the end, they do reunite and have some soup, but I still felt uninspired.


But the beautiful thing about books and soup, is the fact that there are so many to choose from and no two persons tastes are the same. So although this book did not turn out to be one of my favorites, I encourage you to check it out for yourselves. Perhaps it will be just right for you! And perhaps you will make some soup to eat after you are done reading!

[Catherine Austen]

Don’t let the title put you off: this is not the story of a fussy eater. It’s about an old man and his cat, and it’s one of those rare books that capture a lifetime in a tiny tale. The writing is elegant yet homey, nicely brought to life by the moody illustrations. Serious but entertaining, substantial but light-hearted – in the best sense of making your heart feel light – this is a beautiful book for all ages, especially older children.

[Holly Brown]

This book is about a cat and his master. The cat likes to eat potato soup that her master has made. She also likes to go fishing with her master. One day the cat wakes up to find her master gone, and she takes off in search for him.

This book is very quirky. It is entertaining, especially if you like cats.

I would use this book to teach my students about friendship. This book would also reach my students who have cats or want a cat.

[Eric Hinkle]

"The friendship between an old man and his cat, both of whom like potato soup, is strained after he goes fishing without her." (The classic Library of Congress summary.)

This book is wonderful. Beautiful story and watercolors. I'd never heard of it until I saw that Haruki Murakami translated it into Japanese, so I figured it had to be great.

[Candice]

This is such a cute story of an old country man and cat. The old man goes fishing and for rides in his truck, and he always takes his good for nothin' cat that never catches nothin'. Until one day, the cat doesn't wake up and so the old man leaves her. This is a story of stubborn but very sweet love and companionship. I loved sharing it with my daughter.

[Ai]

Terry Farish氏著、Barry Root氏イラストの5分で読めてしまう、絵本です。"The Cat who Liked Potato Soup"というのがアメリカのオリジナルのタイトルです。村上春樹さんが翻訳をしています。

この本に出てくる猫がうちの愛猫にそっくりすぎてびっくり！

アメリカのテキサスに住む、おじいさんは「魚もネズミも獲らない役立たずの痩せっぽちの」茶猫とポテト・スープを食べながら暮らしています。

私は、役立たずとも、思いませんでした。猫には猫の世界があり、おじいさんの猫に対する不満とのギャップが
リアルだな、と感じました。人間関係の距離感のたとえ、とも取れるような気がしました。

何もしてなくても、何かをしていても私は自分の飼っている猫が愛おしいと改めて実感させられた本です。

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

I've probably overused the word "cute" in my reviews of cat books, but I can't help it. This was another cute story! The book describes how the relationship between an old man and his cat grows. I love Barry Root's illustrations, especially the page where the cat is "describing" his ordeal.

[Kelly]

The story of an old man and his equally old cat and their peaceful co-existence, told with humor and a wonderful ear for language. One day the introduction of an electric blanket into their home changes everything. The storytelling slightly outshines the illustrations, but only just.

[Lin]

My first grader read the book to herself and said she didn't like it much. I read it to her tonight and understood why; there was a lot of unfamiliar language for a kid not exposed to much in the way of Southern-sounding lingo. She enjoyed it a lot more as a listener.

[Meg]

This book is charming, with truly wonderful read-aloud language and a heart-warming story about an old man and his cat (I know, I'm a sucker). Would make a stellar read-aloud book for elementary-age children (or cat people of any age).

[The Brothers]

A somewhat dull story of a cat and an old man. They're little routine of life is disturbed when a heating blanket causes the cat to sleep in and not go fishing with the man.

Illustrations are okay.

[S]

A slightly plodding story about an old man and his cat who eats potato soup. Might work well as a one-on-one story for a kid that's on his way to sleep or snuggled up on a sick day. It doesn't hold well with a larger story time audience.

[Shala Howell]

Makes me miss Texas.

[Rose]

JP Far

[Kelli]

A nice surprise of a book about grumpy love.

[Mikanchin]

猫好きの人は、とりあえず読んでおこう。

しみじみとして好き。

[Erin]

cute. reminded me of my dad and his cat tinkerbell, "but not so's you'd notice!"

[James]

A very warm story about endearment and companionship. I really enjoyed this book. very fun to read.

[Stephanie Watson]

This is a cute book about the relationship between a cat and his owner. This is good for students to listen to if they have a family pet at home.