A quiet hero’s journey for YA readers, The Cat Who Saved Books tells the story of high-schooler Rintaro Natsuki, a shy hikikomori (shut-in). When the story begins, Rintaro’s beloved grandfather and guardian has just died, leaving him the owner of his grandfather’s secondhand bookstore.  The description of Rintaro’s feelings about his grandfather’s death are poignant, ringing true to how it feels to be at the funeral of someone we love:

“He never thought that death would come for Grandpa, who relished his simple, almost monotonous lifestyle. As Rintaro looks at him lying there, not breathing, he feels detached, as if he were watching a badly performed play. Now, lying in his white coffin, his grandfather looks just the same as ever—as if nothing has happened at all; as if any moment he might just get up, mumble ‘Right then,’ light the paraffin heater, and put on his usual cup of tea… Reality finally takes root in Rintaro’s heart. He finally manages to squeeze out a few words. ‘This is messed up, Grandpa.’ But there’s no reply.”

Much like his grandfather, Rintaro loves books and knows the contents of the store down to the letter. Filled with the emptiness of his grandfather’s absence, Rintaro stops going to school.  Classmates visit him, but he doesn’t really engage deeply with them. He’s supposed to go live with an aunt—who is going to close the shop—when Tiger, a snarky talking cat, suddenly appears, sending him off on a quest to save books from various dire fates.  In each episode, a portal opens in the back of the shop, dumping Rintaro into a labyrinth that traps him there, along with the cat. On one quest, a reader locks away books; in another, someone Cliff-notes books to oblivion. Along the course of his four quests, Rintaro begins to come out of his numb shell and depression, makes some friends, and—in typical hero’s journey fashion–gains resilience, courage, and self-knowledge.

The Cat Who Saved Books is a delightfully odd and literary sort of a fantasy, with a quaint, slightly old-fashioned voice that suits its protagonist and subject well. Books, fantasy, coming-of-age, literary allusions, and a talking cat… Really, what’s not to like?

The Cat Who Saved Books
Written by Sosuke Natsukawa
Translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai
ISBN: 978-0063095731
March 14, 2023, HarperCollins

Awards: 2023 GLLI YA Translated Book Prize Honor Book

Reviews: Kirkus; Publishers Weekly

You can buy a copy here* or find it at a library.

*Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission at no cost to you.

Award-winning opera singer Nanette McGuinness is the translator of over 100 books and graphic novels for children and adults from French, Italian, German and Spanish into English, including the well-known Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novels, as well as Tiki: A Very Ruff Year (nominated for a 2023 Will Eisner Comics Industry Award). Her translation of Alice on the Run: One Child’s Journey Through the Rwandan Civil War. was a 2023 GLLI YA Translated Book Prize Honor Book, won the 2023 Mosaic Prize; and her translations of Magical History Tour: Vikings and of Magical History Tour: Gandhi were 2023 Excellence in Graphic Literature Finalists. Two more of her translations have received high accolades: Luisa: Now and Then (2019 Stonewall Honor Book; 2020 GLLI YA Translated Honor Book) and California Dreamin’: Cass Elliot Before the Mamas & the Papas (2018 Harvey Awards). Recent translations include YA dystopian SF GN Gurvan: A Dream of Earth; Dagfrid, Viking Girl: No More Ear Buns; Dagrid: Viking Girl: Secret Viking Wishes; Magical History Tour: Samurai, Magical History Tour: Slavery; fantasy manga Bibi & Miyu #3, and LGBTQ manga Just Friends.