Wild

A boy and his grandpa are looking forward to getting their new cat, but when she arrives, she doesn’t want to do any of the fun stuff the boy has planned: she doesn’t want to play, she doesn’t want to eat any of the lovely food she’s offered, and she doesn’t even want to have a cuddle by the fire.

When the cat escapes, the little boy and his grandpa follow her outside… yet, instead of a normal outside, they’re transported to thick jungle, chasing their cat as she runs along fallen palms, over deep crevasses and up the remains of mysterious temples. Finally, the cat finds her wild animal friends, and the boy and his grandpa stay for a delightful party.

Sam Usher’s beautiful picture book starts off as a story about an exciting everyday life kind of event: getting a pet is a big part of anyone’s childhood. Yet what starts as a new pet story changes unexpectedly into something much more fantastical and dreamy: a kind of meditation on what it is to be an animal, even a domesticated one. Even though the little boy’s new cat will be a house cat, Usher’s story with its glorious tall pages of illustration reminds us that she will retains some wildness – and that has to be a good thing.