A strange creature, which initially looks like a cat, appears in the yard of Davy's house one day and proceeds to destroy his family's life by "hypnotizing" everyone but Davy and his little brother.

- Monsters; Fiction.
- Animals; Fiction.
- Horror stories.

What appears to be a hurt little kitten limps into twelve year old Davy's yard. His family takes it in only to find that it is not what it appears to be. Soon the "cat" (or creature) is a big as a labrador retriever and the family is spending all its time preparing food for and shopping for this thing that has come into their lives and taken over their home. Only Davy and his baby brother, Luke, remain unaffected by the creature's hypnotic influence. It is up to Davy to save his family.

Being a cat lover, I was immediately drawn into the story of the Improbable Cat and could certainly imagine a little kitten coming into one's home and ruling the roost. The story is well-told and suspenseful. It is classified as horror because it is written in that style; however, most of the details are not all that scary and Allan Ahlberg avoids leaving the reader with nightmares by neatly creating a happy ending in the last few pages. I must admit, I was disappointed by the ending - all a little bit too neat and managed but a child might not have the same opinion.

The point of view of the twelve year old narrator is very convincingly captured by the declarative, concrete language used to recount the story. In telling his story, Davy sticks to events and specific things he noticed at the time. He offers no speculation as to what someone else was thinking or feeling.

There are a few instances of language that a parent might take issue with. They are isolated to 2-3 chapters. In one instance Davy, the twelve year old narrator, uses the name, Christ, as an exclamation; a usage which some people would consider blasphemous. In the second and third instances, Davy uses a curse word (s_ _ _) both as a noun and, later, as an exclamation. While arguably in keeping with the way the narrator speaks and with the action at that particular point in the story, each time the language chosen is jolting and, I think, unnecessary.

Allan Ahlberg is the Featured Author for the week of August 19, 2007. To get to this essay (and all the other Featured Author essays), go to the Home Page and click on "more" under Featured Author.