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Johanna Hurwitz wrote her first book when she was in fourth grade in the Bronx. It was illustrated by a classmate and they are still friends. Don’t look for the book in your school or public library because it won’t be there. The book was never published. In fact, there is just one copy in all the world, and it is kept safe in a zip-locked bag in Johanna’s briefcase. She takes it to schools to show students and tell them it’s never too early to begin writing, learning music, practicing sports, and planning ahead. Johanna didn’t publish her first book, Busybody Nora, until she was 38 years old. Since then, she has written and published more than 70 books, including The Riverside Kids series, Class Clown, Baseball Fever, and biographies of Anne Frank, Leonard Bernstein, and Helen Keller. She has also been a children’s librarian in school and public libraries. And she has traveled all over the United States and other countries talking to children, teachers, and parents about reading and writing. One of her favorite activities is exploring second-hand bookstores and discovering wonderful out-of-print books that she wasn’t looking for and didn’t even know existed. She has two children and three grandchildren. She has owned four cats, but not all at the same time.Johanna lives in Vermont and Long Island, NY. Sam Loman studied illustration at the Academy of Arts in Rotterdam the Netherlands (Bdes) and art, design and illustration at the University of Hertfordshire UK (MA with distinction). In addition to illustrating picture books, she designs products like stationery, tableware, cards, and more. Her goal is to create images that have that one special, magical touch that give people an awareness of the beautiful things around us. There are so many things that can give us joy, a smile on our face, things that amazes us: you just need to see them. She lives in the Netherlands.
Children who love their cats will be delighted by the premise of Johanna Hurwitz’s new novel. Chaya Ann Tober not only has initials that spell out her favorite animal, but she also empathizes with them to the point of complete identification. When she accidentally experiences a strange metamorphosis, she confirms her suspicion that her feline friends are underappreciated by humans. The adventure proves that people and cats both need compassion. Hurwitz encourages readers to reconsider the assumption of Chaya’s friend that it’s “better to be a fourth grader than a cat.” Less centered on character development and more on improbable events with unexpected consequences, the narrative uses humor in its comparisons of species. One clever and refreshing element of the story is its wordplay. Not only do “cat’s cradle” and “catnip” make appearances, but so do the less obvious “catastrophe,” “catalyst,” and “catalog.” Chaya also works her obsession with cats into her other interests, as when she plays the clarinet solo associated with Ivan the cat in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Chaya is Jewish, and her family is observant. This part of her identity is nicely integrated into the story and presented in a natural and unassuming way. Chaya describes how to play Scrabble on Shabbat without keeping a written score sheet and offers appealing details about Friday night’s traditional meal. She also relates how food from different cultures can be prepared according to the rules of kashrut. But religious observance is not the only indicator of Jewish culture: her family attends a concert by an Israeli musician, which paints a more complete picture of who they are. This dimension of the story is perfect for readers who share Chaya’s background, as well as those who are less familiar with it. Sam Loman’s lively pictures accompany the text, complementing Hurwitz’s first-person narration. Chaya’s unwavering loyalty to cats opens the door to an unusual confluence of worlds, with cats, people, and Jewish identity all intersecting. The Unexpected Adventures of C.A.T. includes a glossary of cat vocabulary and a brief biography of the author. --Emily Schneider, The Jewish Book Council
