The Boy Who Drew Cats: a book club kit

Where it comes from. People in Japan told this tale long ago, and Lafcadio Hearn wrote it down in English in 1898.

In short (for the leader; it gives the ending away). A small, clever boy in old Japan cannot stop drawing cats, so his teacher sends him away with the advice to avoid large places at night and keep to small. He spends the night in an empty temple where a goblin-rat lives, paints cats on its screens and sleeps in a tiny cupboard. In the morning the goblin is beaten, and his painted cats look as if they have been in a fight.

The lesson, in one line. A gift that seems like a fault can turn out to be a strength.

Reading plan, by the story's parts. Meeting 1: Part One, “The Boy and His Cats” and Part Two, “Keep to Small”, pages 1–6 (about 4 minutes aloud); Meeting 2: Part Three, “The Empty Temple” and Part Four, “The Night” and Part Five, “Morning”, pages 7–14 (about 5 minutes aloud). Each stop's own questions, which never give away what comes next: The Boy Who Drew Cats by chapter.

Questions to talk about

1. What is the moral of The Boy Who Drew Cats?
   The story's answer: A gift that seems like a fault can turn out to be a strength. Everyone tells the boy to stop drawing cats, but in the end his cats save his life, and he grows up to be a famous artist.
2. What does "keep to small" mean in The Boy Who Drew Cats?
   The story's answer: The old priest tells the boy to avoid large places at night and keep to small. The boy does not understand until morning: by sleeping in a tiny cupboard instead of the big temple hall, he stayed hidden from the goblin.
3. Who wrote The Boy Who Drew Cats?
   The story's answer: It is a Japanese folk tale. Lafcadio Hearn, a writer who lived in Japan, retold it in English, and it was published in Tokyo in 1898 in a series of small Japanese fairy-tale books.
4. Who killed the goblin in The Boy Who Drew Cats?
   The story's answer: The cats the boy painted on the temple screens. In the night they came to life and fought the goblin-rat, and in the morning the boy found the goblin beaten on the floor.
5. What does this story tell you about the place it comes from?
   Listen for: Food, weather, animals, how people live: anything the story shows.
6. Does it remind you of another story you know?
   Listen for: Many folk tales have cousins in other countries.

Did you know?

• Lafcadio Hearn wrote this Japanese tale in English, and it was printed in Tokyo in 1898 as a small book on crepe paper.
• The old priest's advice is "Avoid large places at night; keep to small."
• The goblin in the empty temple is a giant rat, bigger than a cow.

Activity: Tell it round the circle

Find where the story comes from on a map. Then retell it, one sentence each, round the circle, without the book.