Meet My Cats

by Lesley Anne Ivory

The author introduces her many cats.

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

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Lesley Anne Ivory was born in Bedfordshire, England, and studied at the art schools of St Albans, Watford and Luton, gaining the National Diploma in Design. Lesley's predominately watercolour and gouache artwork is heavily influenced by her love of pattern, from Indian and Persian tapestry and design to the mosaics and friezes of the ancient world. Her wood engravings have been exhibited at the Royal Academy and she created a set of limited edition prints of animals for the World Wildlife Fund. Lesley Anne Ivory has illustrated more than 40 children's books; cats play an important part in Lesley Anne's life and the majority of her paintings are portraits of her own feline family.

- Art of the Imagination

Reviews

[C. (Don't blank click my reviews, comment please! · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Leslie Anne Ivory’s “Cats Know Best” by Colin Eisler, in 2015. She is a spectacular artist, whose drawings and paintings are nearly photographs. You marvel at the distinctive colours and textures of fur, poses, and face expressions. You are warmed when you read that they are her cats. I saw that she has a plethora of books and obtained the exceptionally personal: “Meet My Cats”! Besides a few expressions of England, like “dustbins” and letting pets reproduce as often as she described in 1989; it was a joyous feeling to be hosted by a likeminded cat Mother through Leslie’s photo book, for that is what this is. She authored this whole book herself.

This is a precious, relatable story of how twelve irreplaceable cats came into their lives and who begot whom, regarding biological family members. I regretted reading that one of her dear faces died on the road. His portrait and story is an important record of him. Otherwise, this whole book is bright, induces smiles of familiarity with the delight kitties take in everything, and is honestly enthralling. My Mom is Grandma to our six babies. She, Ron, and I loved gazing at these beautifully-drawn, poignant masterpieces together, with action and scenery that reach past the pages.

My Mom had a health scare and 2½-month hospital stay. We read this to her on July 26, along with “Green Eggs And Ham”. A cat-loving gentlemen in the curtained spot beside her, also enjoyed both stories thoroughly. Mom survived all her challenges and is home! She hopes to visit our cat-children for their birthday next Saturday, in time for which we pray our long-missing birthday boy will return as well. It does the heart good to absorb these beautifully-coloured pages about Leslie’s babies and what they are like.

[Blaze · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book as a young child, so I decided to re-read it for nostalgia's sake.

Now that I'm grown, I'm still an animal lover, but I'm also so pro-fix-your-pets that I couldn't help but internally scream at the author, "get your cats fixed and stop letting them inbreed!" But overall, it's still a very charming book, and I loved it this time just as much as the first time I read it. The illustrations are gorgeous. They could pass for real photographs.

The author, well, invites you to meet her cats. Each cat has its own artwork and a brief story on how the cat came to live with the author and talks about its personality. It's just a cute book.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

And now there are twelve.

I stumbled upon this at a used book sale and was bowled over by familiarity as soon as I saw the cover. I had completely forgotten it, but I used to check out of the library all the time, and spent ages poring over the gorgeously detailed illustrations, in addition to the text. To this day I love miniature "pet memoirs" like this, brief biographies or anecdotes of several beloved animals in one volume.

One thing I did not remember is the cat with the highly unfortunate moniker shared by the 13th James Bond movie. But aside from that, perfection! I mean, they really DO let their cats have just an inordinate amount of kittens for being non-pedigree, but that can't touch my childhood memory of not seeing that as a problem and just being enchanted by the idea of buckets of kittens and multi-generational cat families.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Synopsis: "The author introduces her many cats."


My Review: For some reason I remember this book being so much better as a kid. Maybe it was the illustrations (which I believe is the author's main job as she talks about one of the cats being her favorite subject to paint). The brief one page and disjointed descriptions of the cats doesn't really allow you time to really develop affection for them. All I could keep thinking as the author described all the cats was please spay and neuter your pets! That said, the illustrations were beautiful and Munchkin enjoyed making up who was the Daddy Kitty and Mommy Kitty and looking at the pictures.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are incredible, as Ivory’s always are. The text is really disappointing because it’s a horrible example of cat care. It’s about a family’s history of buying kittens from pet stores, leaving them outside, and letting them breed. Other than a too-casual mention of losing a kitten to a car, this is presented as ideal, when in fact it leads to a lot of suffering. I’m sure these cats were loved but who knows what happened to their generations of kittens. This book is too dated and ignorant to enjoy, unless you look at the pictures only.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very charming cat personalities I would like them all please

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading through this; my mom gave it to me either for my birthday or Christmas. Don't remember the exact year but I was in elementary school.

[Umi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this again going through childhood artefacts in my parents' basement and loved it just as much as I did at age 3! Certainly feels ~meant to be~ that my own kitten resembles Gemma, the star of this text - now to move out to the country and acquire another 11 kitties!!

[Mercedes McLean-Wheeler]

Such a cute, wholesome read. I enjoyed learning the quirks of each of the author’s many cats.

[Iryna B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are gorgeous - it went straight to my collectibles shelf.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author just tells about how she got her twelve cats. Not particularly interesting, but the art work is fabulous!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, you can never ever go wrong with an old book from when you were little.
Five stars, so beautiful and I love the illustrations.

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful illustrations adorn the short account of how the author acquired her 12 cats.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lesley Anne Ivory is a great illustrator of cats!