Filipino / Philippines
Ang aklatang Pusa = The cat library
Evasco, Eugene Y.
(text)
Yokte, Jared C.
(illus.)
Suarez, Angelo V.
(transl.)
Quezon City: CANVAS (The Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development, 2018. – 35 p.
(Series: CANVAS Stories)
ISBN 978-971-9689-09-6
Library | Stray cat | Animal welfare | Minority group | Picture book | Bilingual book
Reading age: 8+
White Ravens issue: 2019
Retired librarian Ms Salvacion takes all the cats abandoned in her dark backyard and opens a “cat library”. She catalogues the animals according to their personality and talent and then lends them to just the right people who need comfort or inspiration. With his book, distinguished children’s book author Eugene Evasco wants to raise awareness not only for animal rights, but also for marginalised population groups. The story was inspired by “The Human Library®”, an NGO originally created in Copenhagen in 2000, in which human beings from different social and ethnic backgrounds can be “borrowed” for conversation. Eugene Evasco likes to challenge his readers with excellent stories written in a literary style, instead of simplifying them. The enigmatic illustrations by Jared Yokte, in which people hardly differ from cats, provide another challenge for young readers. This book was the winner of the “Romeo Forbes Story Writing Competition 2018” by the non-profit organization CANVAS, which promotes Philippine art, culture, and the environment, as well as literacy among children.