Review: Short Story: "The Cat That Winked" by Anna McClure Sholl

The Cat That Winked by Anna McClure Sholl
First published 1908, revised by Reno Fernandez April 2023

This clever little fairytale, published in The Faery Tales of Weir in 1908, has been repackaged on its own with slight updates for the modern reader. I would have thoroughly enjoyed this as a kid, and I enjoy it still now—for the elements of Puss in Boots, but also just for the number of standard fairy tale elements. We have here talking cats and princesses and old ladies in forest cottages and rhymes and a general suspension of disbelief. (Oh, and morals of the story—discussed to some extent at the end of the story but also partly left up to readers to decide.) This cat is decidedly salty—but also devoted to Mother Holly, which I guarantee is something that would spark debate among cat lovers...or dog lovers.

It looks like this is the first in what might become a set of republished fairy tales, and I do like the idea of it getting a renewed audience. The study questions at the end probably won't be useful for the full age range suggested for the book, but I can see this as part of a middle-school language arts unit on fairy tales. Fernandez has broken the story into five chapters, and if I were teaching this in a class I'd definitely assign students to write chapter 6—a continuation of the fairy tale? Or what happens when the fairy tale is over?

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.