Gobbolino is born a witch’s cat, but all he wants from life is to be a humble kitchen tabby. Unlike his clever sister Sootica, he gets muddled with spells and hates tricking people. He sets out on his own to find a family who will love him for himself, not for his magical background.I cried buckets over Gobbolino. All he wants is to be loved. In a way he reminds me of the dog in the television show The Littlest Hobo – oh that haunting theme tune! Gobbolino tries to do good at every turn but he is either exploited or abandoned, and yet each time he picks himself up determined to follow his dream.
The book is populated with lovely black and white illustrations and is a very sweet read for children... even adults!
Gobbolino, the Witch’s CatPublished: 1942
Author: Ursula Moray Williams
Magical fact one: I can never work out how magicians do tricks (and never want to!)
Magical fact two: My dad’s sleight of hand party trick was to make it look like he had pulled off the top of his thumb – impressed me every time!
Magical fact three: He also used to do Eric Morecombe’s trick of catching an invisible ball in a paper bag.
Magical fact four: My mum can do a magic trick with cards – no matter how you shuffle them, she can lay them out in their correct order.
Magical fact five: I got an Abracadabra magic set for my tenth birthday. Couldn’t do a single thing with it.
A-Z Highlights for 'G'
Ellen Brickley at Pink Tea and Paper talks about Germany
Talei Loto at Musings of an Aspiring Scribe posts about writing in the Garden
Myne Whitman talks about the lovely and useful website Goodreads
24 comments:
Oh, Jayne, do not get me started on The Littlest Hobo! I never watched it because anything involving heroic dogs makes me cry, but I always caught the closing credits and still remember the song. . .
'There's a voice, that keeps on callin' me. . .'
I don't remember this one but they illustrations are very sweet aren't they- and I like the lilac. I have to buy a little person a present tomorrow, which is bound to be a book, I never know what age reads what and end up buying what the bookseller tells me too most of the time!
The cover art and illustrations alone are enough to make we want to tune in to your blog each day. Thanks for that.
I've always been fascinated by sleight of hand work. The big tricks, not so much. But to have a magician make coins come and go a foot away...magic indeed.
Best,
Joe
g: Gideon in the Graveyard
I have never heard of Gobbolino. I am going to have to look for it. I love reading new books to my boys.
Wow! I've never heard of this but it sounds like such a good story. I love cats and witches are always interesting. Thanks for sharing! I will definitely check it out.
nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
OH, what a SWEET-sounding book! I'll definitely have to check it out.
PS--I wanted to grow up to be a cat too. :-)
I don't remember ever reading this but he sounds like the loveliest cat. The illustrations are cute too.
Thanks for the mention.
I love this book Jayne. It is precious. Good magic stories were always a favorite of min.
My husband always did that thumb trick for our children. They used to just laugh and laugh.
Hadn't heard of Gobbolino before. Loved your magic facts.
I'm an A to Z'er.
I am still very much enjoying your blog! I want to read all these books you're posting about!
I love the sound of this book. So cute :)
Oh, I love the sound of Gobbolino, haven't actually heard of him before. Will definitely try and get a copy now.
And, thank you so much for highlighting my blog! I feel very honoured!! ;-) x
I can do that thumb trick, I used it many times when I saw someone bored or day dreaming in school.
Oh will it not make my kids cry, perhaps I should give it a go first.
Came through A-Z. I love your blog. Ciao
I've never heard of this; I must check it out! Thanks for the intro :)
Oh another book to add to my reading list :-)
Such a neat little book. Some of these should be brought back into print, they are timeless.
Jayne, that brings back such memeories! I loved Gobbolino but at the same time it made me cry a lot (I was seven) Poor Gobbolino had to go through such trauma before he got to be a kitchen cat. I always had to think 'it will be ok in the end...'
I am enjoying your theme for the challenge! So many lovely books!
These blogs need to be printed out and kept for my future children.
I loved that book too and I read one called Spook about a witch's cat too. :O)
i loved Gobbolino the witches cat my mum used to buy me the story time magazine eat fortnight and id wait for the cassette so i could listem to another chapter of gobbolino's adventures
Do you know if the pictures are of the 1942 edition ?
The pictures are from my paperback version - I don't know if the same illustrator was used for the 1942 version, sorry.
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