The Boy Who Drew Cats And Other Japanese Fairy Tales

This is a lovely quaint book of fairy tales. I loved reading through the stories. However, some of the stories, I would read before reading to kids.

This is a thin volume (60 pages) of Japanese folk tales meant for children. The stories are interesting, but a couple of them ended quite abruptly. The book was originally published in 1924 but could have been edited for "proper" grammar as some concepts and sentences are lost in translation.

I purchased this book to read to my children before bed. While a few of the stories have left us laughing all are well written and easy to read out loud even when your eyelids are drooping. Good short stories perfect for a tired parent who still wants to read to their kids. Though I wouldn't recommend for really young kids. Giant rats and such could scare young children.

This book, like the others in the same series, has quite high cost-efficiency; we can get this at the price of a canned beverage. Besides, it tells well-known Japanese folk tales in a very plain and decent English, which enables readers to read through without consulting dictionaries. Considering these features, it is suited for Japanese learners of English as a gateway to English books.

The book I wanted has a better version of the title story, The Boy Who Drew Cats. This story didn't meet my expectations, perhaps because of that.

日本の昔話11編が入っています。子供のころに聞いたお話を、今度は英語で味わってみませんか？英文は平易で、中学校卒業程度の英語力で読めますし、多少分からなくても知っているお話ですから想像力で補えます。挿絵がどの時代のお話でも、江戸時代の装束になっているのはご愛嬌です。

This was a gift for a very artistic grandson who loves cats. He was really excited when he saw the book (I am told by his mom); moreover, his mom (our daughter) remembered that she had the same book when she was younger and also loved it.