The Curious Misadventures of Kitty the Cat

By Marie-Renée Lavoie and Marie-Renée Levoie

A CBC Books Summer Reading Pick!

"We know Lavoie for her novels for adults. Here she offers us a cute text that will capture and maintain the interest of readers. A refreshing read that features a tiny, endearing and courageous kitty." — La Presse

The Curious Misadventures of Kitty the Cat is a hilarious story of a cat who never grows up. After wandering away from his mom and sibling, he's found in the forest by a little girl and moves with her into the city, where he finds adventure and makes new friends: PrÉmÂchÉ, the big cat of the alley; the spiders of the special arachno-intervention unit; Billy, the nice neighbour; and the parents of the little girl.

The cat will eventually learn that his mother still lives in St. Hilarion, and that he had better learn to speak gull if he wants to find her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yellow Dog
• Release date: May 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781773370989

Marie-Renée Lavoie

Marie-Renée Lavoie is an author and a teacher of literature at Maisonneuve College. Her novel Mister Roger and Me won ICI Radio-Canada's Battle of the Books—the Quebec equivalent of Canada Reads—and the Archambault Prize. She currently resides in Montreal.

Book preview

Cover: The Curious Misadventures of Kitty the Kat. By Marie Renee Lavoie, Translated by Arielle Aaronson.Half Title Page: The Curious Misadventures of Kitty the Kat

Copyright © Marie-Renée Lavoie

English translation copyright © Arielle Aaronson, 2023

Yellow Dog

(an imprint of Great Plains Publications)

320 Rosedale Avenue

Winnipeg, MB R3G 1H1

www.greatplains.mb.ca

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or in any means, or stored in a database and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Great Plains Publications, or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5E 1E5.

Great Plains Publications gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided for its publishing program by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund; the Canada Council for the Arts; the Province of Manitoba through the Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Book Publisher Marketing Assistance Program; and the Manitoba Arts Council.

Design & Typography by Relish New Brand Experience

Printed in Canada by Friesens

First published as La curieuse histoire d’un chat moribond (vol. 1)

by Marie-Renée Lavoie

© 2014, Éditions Hurtubise inc

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The curious misadventures of Kitty the cat / by Marie-Renée Lavoie ; translated by Arielle Aaronson.

Other titles: Curieuse histoire d’un chat moribond. English

Names: Lavoie, Marie-Renée, 1974- author. | Aaronson, Arielle, translator.

Description: Translation of: La curieuse histoire d’un chat moribond.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220491488 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220491496 | ISBN 9781773370972 (softcover) | ISBN 9781773370989 (ebook)

Classification: LCC PS8623.A8518 C8713 2023 | DDC jC843/.6—dc23

Logo - Government of CanadaTitle: The Curious Misadventures of Kitty the Kat

Marie-Renée Lavoie

Translated by Arielle Aaronson

Logo: Yellow Dog

Contents

Say meow, say meow, SAY MEOW, KITTY!

It looked like someone had chewed up his head and spit it back out again.

With elastics, you have to wait your turn.

Wow! Is Kung Fu Panda over there your grandmother?

Bless you, electric heating!

Kitty, on my signal, you lick the wound.

If Kitty dies, at least we’ll have the other one.

Outtakes (for big kids only)

1

Say meow, say meow, SAY MEOW, KITTY!

Say what you like, a kitten all alone in the woods won’t make it very far. No, a little itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny cat lost in the forest doesn’t stand a chance. Take it from me.

I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I got lost in the first place all because of a big, ugly fly with icky legs and googly eyes. I was napping peacefully in the barn with my brothers and sisters when it started buzzbuzzzing in my ears. The thing was driving me nuts! I had to chase it deep into the woods so it would leave me alone.

Then, when I wanted to come home to the farm, I couldn’t find my way back. Poof! The whole thing had disappeared! And the more I looked for it, the more lost I got in the maze of winding paths. I must have walked two or three million kilometres without stopping. I wound up on the other side of the world, somewhere near Australia. I couldn’t even believe I was still walking right side up.

The exhausting thing about the forest is that it’s full of wild animals just waiting to gobble you up. And since I look more like a cocktail sausage than a real animal, I had to hide out in the treetops to get away. There, way up on the highest branches, flimsy as fish bones, I could finally rest—as long as all I did was wait patiently, not moving an inch.

For food, I had to resort to catching spiders. And not even big, juicy, hairy ones, just little microscopic spiders that melt on your tongue like snowflakes. At that size, I wonder if they’re even big enough to have eyes or a mouth.

My problem is that I was born small—really small, like itty bitty. My mom used to say I was special, to make it sound better. Moms are like that. They always turn the smallest flaws into the biggest virtues.

I doubt my mother went looking for me. You see, she’s got eight other kids, all born on the same day at the same time. Just imagine: nine baby cats with nine lives each = 9 x 9 = uh… That’s about two thousand lives—all at once! As you can see, she’s a very busy mother and