Kittens and Cats: A First Reader

by Eulalie Osgood Grover

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Classics, Cats, Short Stories, Animals

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

1873-1958

Reviews

[S̶e̶a̶n̶]

pre-Interweb Lolcats


(with thanks to Public Domain Review)

[Wetdryvac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, clever, and in some archival scans, utterly incomprehensible. I have no idea how this reprint came out, as I grabbed my public domain scan digitally. At which point my reader started spouting gibberish in the manner of Klingon opera.

But, once I got a clean copy, it was a lot of fun. I adore some of the early photo cat books, and some of that era's children's books, and this hits the sweet spot of both.

[Ellice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a cute and ridiculous reader for small kids. The text is funny but the big draw are the many photographs of cats, dressed (no doubt against their will) to the nines to create a whole cast of characters. I guess it also goes to show that dressing up cats has been popular for at least a century. Definitely try to find a vintage copy or read this online.

[figaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

adorable.. the leetol scrunklies

[Leonie]

I read it for the cat memes.

[Raquel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Such a cute little book, the pictures of the kittens and cats had me melting.

[Gabrielle Andres · Rating 5 out of 5]

protect them at all cost

[Ardis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a children's book with kittens and cats from the early 1900s. The kittens and cats are going to the queen's party and there are many little poems and mother goose rhymes to describe all of the characters. The fun part about this book is not the poems, but the photos of all the characters, the kittens and cats all dressed up! I would say the book is definitely outdated, but it gives a glimpse into the past with the kitten with the dunce hat and the wealthy cat that is the only owner of an automobile in the country. I'm just not sure if it would hold the attention of children nowadays.

[Lailatun Nadhirah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alahai, comelnya buku kanak-kanak ni!
Kesemua kisah dalam buku ini menjadikan kucing sebagai watak utama cerita. Cerita-cerita pendek ini diselang-selikan dengan gambar-gambar kucing pada zaman 1878. Ternyata sejak 1800-an lagi kucing sudah dipakaikan baju untuk perhiasan.

Sangat comel dan kelakar. Terasa seperti kita sedang membaca setiap "bebelan" kucing itu sendiri. Agak terhibur dengan perkataan ini:

"I have a sick head. It aches. Perhaps I caught too many mice last night."

[Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a newer edition of the book which is titled Ye Olde Cat Memes, it has black and white pictures of Cats/Kittens in funny outfits, the writing is intended for Children, nonetheless It's pretty cute and should make anyone cheer up a bit specifically Cat Lovers.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet. Lots of b/w pictures of cats from early 20th Century. The pictures and captions are cute. The stories are charming. It’s long though at around 100 pages. Loved the note to teachers at the end.

[Sarah Twist · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book written entirely from the perspective of cats. With pictures of cats dressed in outfits.
Honestly not much more to say, it's a great one to have stumbled upon

[Heba Tariq · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

[Anu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing ancient cat memes - it seems our sense of humour and love has not changed too much regarding cats in the last 110 years. And there's even a story to go along with them. :D

[Yuyen Alvarado · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book out of curiosity and find it adorable.
The pictures of the cats were enjoyable

[Sophia]

what a lovely book to read on Christmas!

[Branden Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the photo of the cat wearing a dunce cap

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well suited to its purpose of encouraging young children to read on their own! Funny photos of cats never go out of style.

[Thikrayat Al-aradi · Rating 2 out of 5]

story is lame but the pictures are so very creepy

[L.J. Bus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little story about cats and kittens going to the Queen’s party. This storyline is not told as one story but it is made up by these very little “stories”, verses as you will or you could call them introductions. Every next little verse is about another cat or kitten and some ‘main characters’/kittens or cats have a bit of physical appearance told, other stories tell about how excited they are or not.
All in all maybe not the type of story to tell to a baby or toddler nowadays but it is still fun. I would definitely tell it to my kids if I had any. Maybe the quaint writing style (or rather choice for words and composition) sparks a new hobby for them. If not, it’s a fun story about cats and kittens so never lost time

[J. Boo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very oddball reader designed for students towards the end of first grade in the 1900s.

I note in passing that words these students are expected to be able to sound out -- just in the first few pages -- include:

littlest
naughty
horrid
carriage
underneath
aches

Standards were pretty high back then.

Content-wise, this is on the weirder end of the late 19th -early 20th century creative flowering of educational materials. A large number of cats are invited to the Queen of Kitten Country's tea party. We are introduced to the invitees, and then, at the party, the cats tell stories, generally buffered with a brief poem, sometimes either a nursery rhyme or inspired by one. There is a photograph of a cat, dressed in a very dapper fashion, for each. (The cats' expressions suggest that they were living, and the pictures were not the product of taxidermy.)

There is a very short note to the teacher at the end, with suggestions for use of the book, including for each child to memorize his own one or two page story for dramatic presentation. (The stories are short and the text density is not high, so this would be readily doable, though I would not suggest one should actually do it, at least not with this book - something with a little more lasting quality seems a better idea.)

I am tempted to give this a shot when my cat loving kindergartener (DD2,5) is ready for it.

UPDATE: Now, as she is toward the end of first grade herself, I had DD2 (6) read it to me.

She enjoyed it very much and only needed occasional help sounding out the words. The pictures were a delight, though she did inexplicably find one or two of them "scary". All in all, a good experience, and therefore I would recommend it to other young children, budding readers with an inordinate fondness on cats.

The book is available on archive.org, however the title is set to "Kittens and Cats: a Book of Tales" which is plainly wrong.

[Janelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a really odd book with extremely brief stories and poems about cats and kittens attending a queen's party. I suspect that the original book in its print form would have been much more interesting, especially to young children. I only persisted listening to this because it helped me to sleep, so many thanks to the Librivox narrator for that.

[Mary Owais · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book to read for kids during bed time reading.

[Chris Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute!

A wonderful peek at the past. Hoover's photos and simple stories give a charming glimpse at school days at the turn of the 20th century.