Abstract

[Recommended for elementary school students in grades 3-4!] ・Perfect for summer vacation book reports! ・Will the protagonist, Akari, be reunited with the stray cat, Momo!? ・Themes include "coexistence between humans and animals" and "the courage to act"-------------------------------------------- One day, a small white cat wanders into Akari's garden. Akari names the cat "Momo" and looks forward to playing with it. However, the cat's mother chases it away, and Momo never appears again. Six months later, Akari accidentally reunites with a much grown-up Momo in a nearby park, and with the sole desire to see her again, she begins to visit the park regularly... Matsumoto-kun, who dotes on the stray cat family, Fujisawa-kun, whom Akari secretly has feelings for, and the mysterious "cat kidnapper" woman—Adults and children join hands and take action to protect the lives of stray cats. Rescue activities for stray cats include various approaches such as finding foster homes, adoptions at cat cafes, TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) programs where cats are spayed or neutered and returned to their original locations, and feeding and managing the litter boxes of community cats. However, not all cats find foster homes. What can we do to help each cat find their own "form of happiness"? This story directly asks questions about the relationship between humans and animals from a child's perspective.

Author’s Information

Anzu Yuki is a children's literature author. She has received the Excellence Award at the 10th and 12th Ogawa Mimei Literary Awards and the Grand Prize at the 5th and 6th Guide Dog Serve Memorial Literary Awards. Her major works include the "Otasukeya Suketa no Bouken" series, "Natsu ni Furu Yuki" (Snow Falling in Summer), "Again" (Again) (both published by Froebel-kan), "Oresama wa Yokai Ya de" (I'm a Yokai), "Enpitsu wa Damatte" (Pencils Stay Silent), "Dagashiya o Mamore! Tsukumogami Daisakusen" (Protect the Candy Store! The Great Tsukumogami Operation) (all published by Bunkeido), "Kagami no Naka no Boku to Boku" (Me and Me in the Mirror) (Bunken Publishing), "Kin-chan Yasai o Tsukurou yo!" (Let's Make Vegetables, Kin-chan!), "Mao no Ureshii Hi" (Mao's Happy Day), and "Kimi no Namae" (Your Name) (all published by Kosei Publishing). She is a member of the Japan Children's Literature Association. She lives in Osaka Prefecture. / Sato Makiko is a painter. Her major works as an illustrator include the "Battery" series (Kyoiku Gakugeki), "The Garden I Saw in My Dreams" (Kodansha), "God's Patchwork" (Poplar Publishing), "Teacher, I Can't Write a Book Report!" and "In Front of the Door to a Small Universe: Itoko's Scale Continued" (both published by Doshinsha), "I Hate Elementary School!" (Akane Shobo), "To You a Thousand Years from Now" (BL Publishing), "Snow Falling in Summer" (Froebel-kan), "A Sports Day Just for the Two of Us" (Kosei Publishing), and many others.