Title: Macinaw’s Memoirs, Born to Hunt
Author: CR Gable
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
ISBN: 978-1439208342
Pages: 97, Paperback/Kindle
Genre: Fiction/Pets/Young Adults
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
In one word – adorable. Written as a first person narrative through the eyes of a kitten growing up to become a cat, Macinaw experiences all of the adventures of kitten hood as it learns to roam, hunt, socialize and become a cat in Macinaw’s Memoirs, Born to Hunt . Clearly author CR Gable has an empathic eye when watching cats, embodying a sixth sense of merging their minds together, to think like a cat, and dream like a kitten. At one point, Macinaw was so exhausted from being in the woods, and after hobbling with an injured foot, finally found a warm, safe cove and curled up to sleep. “I fell into a deep sleep and dreamed of chasing butterflies in the sunshine,” wrote CR Gable. That beautiful sentence reverberated in my mind time and time again, as I thought to myself just how poetically insightful such an interpretation of a dream would be; highly likely as being so true.Nearly every sentence in Macinaw’s Memoirs has the word “I” in it, as each thought and emotion of Macinaw is cleverly brought to the reader with such intrinsic insight one may be lulled easily into the mindset of a feline. With intelligence, curiosity and mindful of the lessons taught by its mother, Macinaw sets out to explore the woods, encounter strange and wonderful beings, figure out survival and outwit its prey while honing the skills necessary to hunt and survive. In one encounter, Macinaw is held by a girl, with a relaxing and soothing energy. The girl pours Macinaw a bowl of a white liquid (milk) and leaves it for Macinaw to consume. Gable wrote, “I was overjoyed! I had found a human that I could train!” Isn’t that the truth about cats!
As we all know cats have nine lives. Within these ten short stories we get to journey throughout the barn, shelter, forest, and homes meeting new and then old friends; while experiencing the world from a vantage point just inches above the ground. Having a beautiful coat with four paws and a tail, a keen sense of hearing and the ability to figure out the secrets of the world, the readers are taken along a journey from a truly unique, empathetic perspective of prowess and pondering. Printed with an Ariel font generously spaced on each page, the galley text is easy for new readers to enjoy. Having a fanciful use of the first person of being a cat to tell the story, Macinaw is very original, without touching the classical feline icons such as the nursery rhymes of Dr. Seuss’Cat in the Hat, or the ego of Hanna-Barbera’s Top Cat, or the swashbuckling Puss in Boots.
Macinaw’s Memoirs is an ideal addition to any family library or K-4 school. It’s a wonderful gift for new readers to take on a trip. This book is also ideal to be read to younger children as a bedtime story, perhaps over the course of a few evenings, allowing the children to go to sleep and dream of chasing butterflies in the sunshine as well.
