Plum Crazy: Tales of a Tiger Striped Cat (vol. 1), by Hoshino Natsumi

Now this was just too cute to resist!

Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of traditional Manga. I find the whole right-to-left format extremely confusing. More so than should be for a book that's mostly pictures. And that diminishes my enjoyment of the story at hand. I'm missing out, I know. But that's just how it is for me.

But I could not resist Plum Crazy by Hoshino Natsumi. 

Admittedly what drew me in was the cover. More specifically, the tabby-and white cat on the cover. This kitty looked so much like my kitty (Gizmo) I had to see what it was all about. And I was very pleasantly surprised. Because the story was cute too. 

The story focuses on Plum, a cat owned by a single mother and her son. Mom has a dance studio and Plum spends her days having adventures and tolerating all the petting and and attention from the dance students (Because who can resist a cat that cute? Yeah...me either). One day Plum brings home a starving kitten, later named Snowball, and the story picks up from there. As Plum and Snowball adjust to each-other, and as Plum learns to tolerate all the kitten antics, the two become buddies. 

For the curious: My cat Gizmo.
He looks like Plum, don't you think?

All in all, the story is very cute. Much like Chi's Sweet Home. And it seems to target a younger audience. However, I would recommend it to cat lovers of any age. Because who doesn't want to read a cute cat story. 

--AJB