Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told By a Cat

by Jeanne Perego, Donata Dal Molin Casagrande (Illustrator), Andrew Matt (Translator)

Chico the cat vividly describes the life of his "best friend," Pope Benedict XVI, recounting events in the life of Joseph Ratzinger, from the Nazi era in Germany when the Pope was a teenager all the way up to his election as Pontiff on April 19, 2005.

Genres: Catholic, Biography, Childrens, Juvenile, History

44 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Elizabeth Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book that tells the story of Chico who happens to be a cat, and he’s a cat with a very special friend named Joseph, who becomes Pope Benedict XVI. I always think seeing a story from the point of view of an animal really shows what it means to be a human and analyzes the human experience. With a figure like the pope, he seems so powerful and chosen by God, but really he is just a normal human being. He is not perfect. He has been through his struggles. This pope, he was born in Germany in the 1920s so you can assume what happened when he was a young person. He came face-to-face for Nazism. This book also teaches that we can learn from animals as well as humans.

I think this would be a great book, if you have a child who is curious about the pope. This isn’t our current pope, but it might answer some questions of how a pope is chosen or what kind of path he has go down to get to that role. My only issue was that this was rather choppy. Each page was a bit jolting to get to. At some points, I thought that I might have skipped a page by accident, but no it was just choppy.

[Sonia Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

And here is the book written by the Pope's cat.

Chico is the one who watches Josef Ratzinger's rise to Pope...

I like it when the little cat says, 'When Josef was ordained, a little bird flew all around the Cardinal who ordained Josef and Josef himself.'

A little cat's fancy? Who knows

[booklady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to read this as a quick biography of Benedict XVI. Learned a few quick facts about him, especially things we share in common--a love of books, learning, Germany, cats, bears and last, but far from least, our faith! He was born on Easter Eve in 1927 and baptized on Easter that year. His family was forced to move around a lot during the 1930s while he was growing up. He served in WWI and was interred in a prison camp following the war. He graduated from college in Munich. He dislikes controversy and conflict; he prefers contemplative study and quiet days reading with his cat.

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Previous Entry: Had lunch with my good friend, Laine today and she told me about this book! It sounds like fun for kids (of all ages!) and a good gift idea!

I didn't know he liked/had a cat! :)

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute concept and sweet illustrations. Not a complete biography, but gives a taste of Pope Benedict XVI’s early life.

[Lucille · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in this book. To me, it was neither a children's book nor one for adults. I do not think the goal of the book was reached; to have the cat tell the story of his relationship with the pope.

It is a good basic biography of the pope, but again, too much detail for a child, too little for an adult.

I did like the illustrations. Those, also, seemed a mix of child like vs for adults.

Had the book been much longer I might have defaulted to stopping at some point before completing it, but it's short, short, short, so it was easy to breeze through.

I wanted to like this book. I liked this pope and I love cats. But it was a hit and a miss for me.

[Vanessa Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the concept of this book, but it was too wordy for a children's book.

[Greta · Rating 1 out of 5]

avrei voluto ascoltare la storia del gatto e non del Papa di cui si sa già tutto.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: read aloud to my son for our religion class.

Comments: This is a "big kid's" picture book with a large amount of text and would be suitable for up to age 12. The vocabulary is also quite high, possibly on account of the translation, which would make me not recommend it for younger than 7. The story is told by a pet cat that the Pope once had and while I found the 'talking cat' angle a little strange myself I could see that its purpose of bringing the story closer to a child's understanding, adding a narrator and an off-beat sense of humour worked very well. My 9yo son responded very well to Chico's voice. The biography covers Joseph Ratzinger's life from birth until the day he is elected Pope. More detail is covered in young Joseph's life while his later life of teacher, bishop and cardinal is quickly covered. Detail is once again added very well at the end describing the process of when and how a new Pope is elected. The illustrations are beautiful and compliment the book nicely, done mostly in cool colours in what appears to be watercolours. A good book for a brief look at the topic that gives just the right kind of information that will help children understand just who the Pope is. I also think that the book would be perfectly suitable for an audience of any religion as it is not written specifically to Catholics or even Christians. Recommended.

[Kelly]

This book is to be released in March 2008. I probably won't read it till July 2008.

[Leslie Jem · Rating 2 out of 5]

The translation on this is dreadful, but the story idea is cute (and officially sanctioned by the Vatican). Who knew the pope is a cat person???

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book, the boys and I loved reading about the Pope through the eyes of a cat.