The Station Cat by Stephen Hogtun

 

The Station Cat: A story of kindness and hope

"This train is not for you, and you have no ticket, you will have to save to come aboard."

A small skinny cat arrives at the old train station. People waiting for trains do not notice her.

"The colour drained from this place a long time ago."

You will have to save lives and save she does. This young half-starved cat connects with various people at the train station as each face a life crisis. 

"Crowds of people went about their sorrow without noticing her at all."

"If they had only looked closer they would have seen ... Eyes of radiant, jade green staring back."

There are wonderful words used in this book. Here are the colours: ginger, cinnamon, lilac, fawn, amber, carmine and violet. Other rich words: sombre, vapour, spectrum of colours, wistful, and vivid.

Share sentences like this with your older students:

"She paced softly upon graceful, pink paw pads ... "

"Waxed wooden herringbone floors reflecting the light blue sky which chorused the light footsteps that now skipped along it."

Publisher blurb: A lonely little kitten wanders into a dull, gray station, full of dull, gray people. Her colorful fur and bright green eyes bring warmth and life to this weary place, and soon people begin to notice the kitten. As she learns about the different travelers and their struggles from loss and loneliness, the little kitten wants to help fill their world with hope and color, too.

Adult readers will probably see deeper themes in this book (you can see these in the labels I assigned this post) as we watch each person engulfed by the despair of their life circumstances but I think readers aged 8+ will simply appreciate that a small act of kindness can mean so much to each of us.

The narrative itself is grave, detailed and evocative, matching the mood created by the colours and is set out as unrhyming verse so that the line breaks emphasise particular words and images. The movements and expressions of the cat are beautifully observed and the depiction of different passengers invites readers to imagine the stories of their lives and what has brought them to the colourless state at the start of the book. Just Imagine

This is a sophisticated presentation of an important message of the value of community and reaching out to others. ... The story stays with you long after you close the pages. More About Books

Every now and then when I go into the city, I decide I just HAVE to buy myself a treat - which for me is a Picture Book. It can take me a long time to decide what to buy because I am fussy, I want to spend my money wisely and I have three main criteria:

• The book has to touch my soul.
• The illustrations have to be exceptional
• If possible the book should be fairly new (this is not essential)

The Station Cat meet two of my three criteria. And I should add I prefer to buy picture books that cost less than AUS$30 although this criteria now needs revising because so many absolutely beautiful and truly special picture books are now closer to AUS45. The Station Cat was published by DK in London and it only cost AU$19.98.

Stephen Hogtun is an author/illustrator who lives on the west coast of sunny Norway in an old house overlooking a lovely fjord. His picture books cover serious topics in a very gentle, child-friendly way and feature visually stunning illustrations.

Here are some other books by Stephen Hogtun - I am curious about his work and how it came to be published in the UK and in English.

The Station Mouse by Meg McLaren

Publisher Blurb: Maurice is the Station Mouse, and so he must follow The Station Mouse Handbook:

Rule 1: A Station Mouse must remain unseen.

Rule 2: A Station Mouse must never go out in the daytime.

Rule 3: A Station Mouse must never approach the passengers.

Now, there's a reason why these rules exist: people do not like mice. And if Maurice breaks the rules, even to help a little boy who has lost something very important, there's going to be a price to pay…

This book has a delightful story and sweet illustrations filled with funny little details. Look for the book covers with titles such as 'Little Mouse on the Prairie"; "Of mice and Men pocket edition"; "Les Mouseables".  

Meg McLaren just keeps on getting better and better; this is my favourite of her stories so far. There are quirky little jokes, both visual and verbal wherever you look – even on the back cover. As well as creating superb characters, there’s an impressive sensitivity about everything she draws and she has an amazing eye for detail. Red Reading Hub

I would pair this book with:

The Lost Property Office

The library I visit each week adds small stickers to the front covers of their books showing the awards a book may have won. I find this quite delightful and often intriguing. Many school libraries would not have time to do this but as a library user I really appreciate seeing the myriad of awards awarded to children's books by different organisations around the world. Here are a few:

One of these awards, which is a new discovery for me, is the Bookbug Picture Book Prize.

The Bookbug Picture Book Prize celebrates Scottish picture books and encourages reading for pleasure. ... A free copy of each of the three books on the shortlist (are) gifted to every Primary child in the Bookbug P1 Family Bag. The winner of The Bookbug Picture Book Prize (us) chosen by children across Scotland, aged between three and seven years old, who vote for their favourite book through their class or at home.

Established in 2010, this is the eleventh year of Bookbug bags being distributed to children across Scotland. The selection of books is a year-long and robust process with an independent panel of experts shortlisting books for each of the Bookbug bags. For the P1 bag, the panel is made of up primary 1 teachers with extensive experience of working with this age group, a children’s librarian, children’s bookseller, parent and Bookbug coordinator, as well as experts from Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years team.  Panel members are asked to select books that will provide reading for pleasure while also being suitable for the age range.  Following the face to face panel, workshops take place in school classrooms across Scotland. This gives more primary 1 teachers and lots of children the opportunity to share valuable feedback on four shortlisted books to determine the final selection. Bookbug bags are then distributed through schools during Book Week Scotland in November. We do our best to ensure there is enough variety across the three shortlisted titles ​for every child to find a story they can engage with, have fun reading and enjoy.

The Station Mouse won the Bookbug Picture Book Prize in 2020. You can see other short listed books and winners here. 

Here are the short listed books and winner (This is a dog) from 2021: