Gobbolino the Witch's Cat

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He has many adventures along the way and makes many friends, until he finally finds the home he dreams of. But Gobbolino is mistrusted wherever he goes, and blamed for myterious happenings such as the farmer's milk turning sour, and the orphanage children's gruel turning into chocolate! Gobbolino tries to adjust to his life in the cave but fails to complete a single task set by his mistress. And in the end he is accepted - because he has been changed into something else and looks different.

No one could mistake Gobbolino for a simple kitchen cat, with his sparky whiskers and magic tricks, but that's just what the witch's kitten wants to be. I love this story of a little cat who, though born to a witch's cat, just isn't cut out to be a witch's cat like his mother and sister. The story may be 75 years old now, but the style shouldn't put off readers/listeners, the language is readable and moves along nicely.In 1984 Puffin published The Further Adventures of Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse, a joint sequel to Gobbolino and to Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse (1938). You're going to have to read the book to find out the name of the other cat) My daughter, aged 9, really loved the story and it is her that gives the book 5 stars.

My feeling of dissatisfaction is probably more with the similarity between Gobbolino's world and the actual world we all live in, rather than the story that pointed to the similarity.

He wants to be a kitchen cat, and yet he goes through town after town without actively looking for a kitchen that wants a cat. Reissued for its seventy-fifth anniversary with illustrations by the award-winning Catherine Rayner, this classic tale has been loved by generations of children. He doesn't look the part of a witch's cat either, he is dark tabby rather than black, he has one white paw and blue eyes so he gets abandoned by the witch after she can't find another witch to take him on, and Gobbolino is alone in the world.