Book Review: "A Cat Called Ian", By Wolfren Riverstick

One of the many things I love about blogging, are the people that I have been blessed to connect with along the way. One of the ways that I have met some truly wonderful folks has been through my book reviews. Sometime in 2012 I was contacted by author Wolfren Riverstick (is that name not the BEST??!!), asking if I would be interested in reviewing his self-published book: A Cat Called Ian. If memory serves me correctly, Wolfren lives in the UK but he has a Michigan connection, I believe he has family here and that is how he first discovered my blog, but don't quote me on that!

Book Cover
Courtesy of
 www.crazywolfbooks.co.uk

Wolfren was supposed to mail me his book late last year, well," best laid plans," it didn't arrive until MAY of this year. SOME things are worth waiting for, and A Cat Called Ian is one of them

Wolfren's target audience for his books are children ages 9-12, but the lessons learned in A Cat Called Ian are lessons that the most "seasoned" among us could use some reminding of.

A Cat Called Ian begins with "The Boy" being cruel to his sister (Ellie). "The Boy" has a mouth that never ceases spewing vicious insults, which bring his sister to tears. "The Boy" also has a distaste for cats, particularly tortoiseshell cats.

After a particularly vile exchange with Ellie, "The Boy" takes off and ends up by a giant great white oak tree which is rumored to be haunted.

From A Cat Called Ian: Legend had it that the tree was haunted, perhaps possessed by evil spirits, although nobody knew for sure."  "The Boy" has always wanted to climb this tree, but had never attempted to. 

When "The Boy" attempts to take on the great white oak and climb it, an Alice-In-Wonderland -esque adventure ensues.

"When a young boy decides to climb the magnificent oak tree on top of Sunrise Hill he discovers that there is much more to it than first meets the eye. After mysteriously stumbling into the mystical world of Catland, the unruly ten year old is whisked into a courtroom where he is punished with the Sentence of Nine Lives in an attempt to make him change the error of his ways...."

"The Boy" is turned into what he loathes, A CAT, a tortoiseshell cat at that! In order to return to the mortal world, he has to repent for the multitude of evil things that he has done. The question is, will he?  You will have to read the book to find out.

I was surprised at how engrossed I was while reading A Cat Called Ian. It was a quick read, both in length (155 pages) and in the suspense that lies within its pages. I read it in one sitting which was just a few hours.

A Cat Called Ian is lively, imaginative, humorous, sensitive, fun and  packed with lessons about how to treat others, (as well as how to treat animals) and is a worthwhile read indeed!

Visit Amazon to purchase A Cat Called Ian or any major bookstore.

Visit www.crazywolfbooks.co.uk