Review of “The Healer Cat” by Tuula Pere, PhD

Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)

Are you and your kids up for a beautiful, heartwarming story about a MAGICAL SUPERHERO CAT who does all she can to help her owners and the wonderful animals in her neighborhood?

The Healer Cat is a truly lovely and unique children's book by Tuula Pere that is sure to appeal to lovers of classic anthropomorphic animal stories like Charlotte's Web, Peter Rabbit, and Stuart Little. With its wordiness and complexity, it may be more appropriate for middle-grade readers or for an adult to read aloud over the course of several days. Like many of Pere's children's stories, it can get a little bit dark, grim, and perilous at times, but it always circles back to light, hope, and positivity.

The Healer Cat follows the titular orange tabby cat, Celesse, who possesses a unique and presumably magical healing touch. Interestingly, Celesse isn't the only magical orange tabby cat to come through our contests this year, the other being Leo, the vampire cat in M.C. Ryder's The Dark series.

Like Leo, Celesse is a calming and comforting presence to all of the well-meaning characters despite her considerable power. In fact, her presence alone seems to have a certain magic about it. Anyone who has owned and fallen in love with a household pet knows that they have a certain magic about them. They can help us to feel wanted, loved, and welcomed when we're sad, sick, anxious, or alone. Celesse has that affect on her owners, referred to as “the master” and “the mistress.” They seem to live together in a house attached to a barn that includes and is surrounded by many animals including squirrels, rabbits, dogs, and birds.

All of the animals seem familiar with Celesse, and she seems familiar with all of them. Presumably, this is because she was kind and helpful to them in the past. Like Big Bertha, the female cat from Animal Quest by David Bush, Celesse is viewed with immense reverence, admiration, and respect by the other animals. She is essentially viewed as their leader and, in a sense, their town shaman.

On one cold winter's night, Celesse provides healing and comfort to the master and the mistress while they're sleeping in bed. However, the calm is shaken when a snowstorm rages outside.

Celesse is alarmed and alerted to the presence of animals at the porch her ask for her help. Being kind, compassionate, loving, and just a great person, Celesse invites the animals in to get warm. Among them are an adorable squirrel family, some pretty birds, and the house's watchdog, Rex.

Later, she is approached by a frantic and panicked hare (female rabbit) who begs her to help her baby, who is feverishly ill in their tree home and couldn't safely make the trip.

Being brave, courageous, and amazing, Celesse offers to go to the baby bunny rabbit.

Interestingly, this is also the first and only time Celesse reveals some degree of vulnerability as the cold weather clearly seems to get to her, needing to bundle up in a thick blanket and shivering. It's also interesting to note that it appears that the mother rabbit pulls the sleigh, revealing that the mother rabbit is actually courageous and strong in her own right. Not only did she make the perilous trip to visit Celesse, but she is also able and willing to bring Celesse and the sleigh to the tree house.

Along the way, Celesse and the hare are confronted by a fearsome and intimidating gray wolf, whose appearance may terrify some children.

However, Celesse bravely and boldly stands her ground, letting the wolf know that she won't be an easy meal. It is also somewhat implied that Celesse is able to use some of her magical powers to ward off the wolf (who “loses strength” in the presence of the “mighty cat”), or perhaps the wolf recognizes that Celesse is too valuable and helpful to the community to attack.

As you might expect from a children's book, Celesse is eventually able to get to the sick bunny rabbit and help him. It's quite a perilous scene as the baby bunny is very sick, but it turns out great in the end.

This is a beautiful and powerful story about compassion, friendship, and helping others.
It's also extraordinary in terms of its illustrations. This book is beautifully illustrated by Klaudia Bezak, who details every whisker on Celesse's fluffy face and every hair on her fluffy orange fur!

There's a real coziness and warmth to the illustrations in this book. There's a distinct orange glow throughout the book that both reflects the aura of Celesse herself and the aura of a fire, the sun, or another source of warmth and light. The accessories that many of the animals have is also a nice touch. The female squirrels are adorned with bows and ribbons/flowers. Celesse wears a blue pearl necklace. The hare wears a blue apron.

Emotions are also excellently portrayed in scenes like when the hare cries. The tears pour down her distraught face.

There are so many great things about this book!

Check it out on Amazon!