The Cat Who Saved Books

 The Cat Who Saved Books (2017) by Sosuke Natsukawa; translated by Heal Kawai

Rintaro Natsuki has grown up in his grandfather's bookshop, Natsuki Books. When his parents died, Natsuki came to live with his grandfather. An introverted boy who has never felt like he fit in with his classmates, he has enjoyed the comfort and seclusion he found among the books. He is devastated when his grandfather dies. He has inherited the bookstore, but he is going to have to sell it and move in with his aunt. He stops going to high school and then he starts having visitors.

Two of his fellow students stop to visit and let him know they're concerned about him--especially the class president, a girl he never would have believed thought about him at all. And then...the talking tabby cat shows up. Tiger, the cat, needs Rintaro's help in a quest. There are those who are destroying books and not using them the way they are meant to be used and Tiger wants the boy to help him free the books. There's the man who owns thousands of books, but keeps them locked up and on display. And the professor trying to develop a new way to speed-read who thinks chopping books up into digestible "sound-bites" is the answer. And the publisher who produces books that he thinks will sell rather than those that are really worth reading. And one final quest with stakes even higher. His new friend Sayo has been taken and won't be released unless he defeats one final twisted soul in the realm of books.

This book is a fantasy and a parable and a coming of age story. Through his adventures, Rintaro learns the true power of books; that they are more than escapes from the world. They hold power. The power to understand others--people like us who are experiencing what we experience but in their own ways and people who may not look or seem like us. They allow us to visit worlds and peoples we might never know were it not for the power of stories.

Books are filled with human thoughts and feelings. People suffering, people who are sad or happy, laughing with joy. By reading their words and their stories, by experiencing them together, we learn about the hears and minds of other people besides ourselves, Thanks to books, it's possible to learn not only about the people around us every day, but people living in totally different worlds.

Rintaro also learns much about himself. He learns that he has gifts that he never realized and that he can stand on his own two feet now that his Grandfather is gone. He learns that he can make friends and work with others (even a talking cat!). He learns about the power within himself as well as within books.  ★★★★

First line: First things first, Grandpa's gone.

Last line: A gentle breeze brushed the doorbell, and it gave a cheerful ring.