Caspar and the Secret Kingdom

by Miranda Seymour, Lois Allard

Caspar the black cat follows an underground route to find the Secret Kingdom of the Cats, where his encounter with a huge dragon promises to release the feline inhabitants from being frozen in eternal winter.

Genres: Picture Books

37 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1986

Reviews

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great fantasy story! Walking in the woods one day, Caspar the cat stumbles upon a stairway going down into the earth near the base of a tree, and ventures down. There he finds what he takes to be the mythic Kingdom of the Cats, though it's strangely deserted. What follows is a journey across bridges and over mountains and through tunnels, where he encounters giant mushrooms and, finally, the creature responsible for the state of the kingdom. Will he survive? Will he make it back to his own world? I love the way the story is told, accompanied by pen-and-ink drawings touched with color that reminded me vaguely of some of the artwork of Peter Maxx from the '60s. I read this one aloud to my cats (it makes a terrific readaloud) and they gave it 2 paws up. In fact, they want me to find a copy of this book for my collection, so that I can read it to them again. The author, from London, has written other children's books, at least one of which is another cat story. Must investigate!