Gobbolino the Witch's Cat

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The witch puts a spell on him, removing his magical powers, and he finds his way back to the farm where he began his journey, his coat having faded to an unrecognisable tabby. I prefer to believe that she simply failed to think through the unpleasant implications of Gobblino's contentment at fitting in with a family whose head wanted to destroy him merely for being what he was born to be, through no fault of his own. And in the end he is accepted - because he has been changed into something else and looks different.

My daughter (aged 6) got a little upset with the book a few times, as life is repeatedly harsh on Gobbolino, and though the ending was happy, it made her quite angry!Coming to it at the age I am now, I found it repetitive and rather exasperating--the cat does nothing but cry all the time. Although this book follows the same basic storyline as Williams's previous work, Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse, the tale of Gobbolino is more emotionally involving. Deși Gobbolino a fost adorabil, printre cele mai simpatice pisici din cărți despre care am citite, nu prea am fost de acord cu finalul. Travelling between such establishments as an orphanage, a Punch and Judy show, a princess's castle - will the black cat ever find somewhere he can settle and make his home?

I bought this book so that I could read it to my children, and hope that they would love it as much as I did as a child.

She said she enjoyed the book but it's not one that I enjoyed all that much, the repetitive format began to pall a bit. I read this one aloud to my cats, who all sat on the bed with me, rapt with attention, and, in the end, gave it a unanimous paws up. A class activity could include listing the different characters in the book and then drawing pictures of them. While his sister Sootica learns how to ride a broomstick and turn mice into toads, Gobbolino sets out to find a family to care for him and a home of his own.

It is so monotonous, I could barely bring myself to read on, but I wanted to finish it since I knew I enjoyed it as a child. A perfect story for A Puffin Book with charming black and white illustrations by the author, Ursula Moray Williams. Still, the charm of Gobbolino and the interest of his varied adventures, as well as the deep questions that the book raises and embodies, are more than enough to compensate for the equivocal ending. By conforming Gobbolino, Williams asked the reader to accept the world (which is often judgemental, cruel, black-and-white) that he lived in, rather than Gobbolino himself.He escapes to look for a kitchen home but is distrusted everywhere he goes and blamed for mysterious happenings, such as the farmer's milk turning sour and the orphanage children's gruel turning into chocolate.