Catlantis - Anna Starobinets and Andrzej Klimowski

Catlantis by Anna Starobinets, illustrated by Andrzej Klimowski / ISBN 9781681370002 / 136-page hardback, 5.7 x 8.8 inches, from The New York Review Children’s Collection

I follow NYRB's output pretty closely, but had somehow missed this children's book illustrated by the great Polish poster designer Klimowski

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Baguette, a seemingly ordinary house cat, is a descendant of the magic Catlanteans who lived long ago in peace and happiness on the island of Catlantis. When he falls in love with the seductive alley cat Purriana, she insists Baguette accomplish a heroic feat before she’ll agree to marriage. They pay a visit to the oracle, Purriana’s great-great grandmother, who reveals to the surprised Baguette the secret of his bloodline and the special inheritance of all ginger descendants of the Catlanteans: the ability to time travel. She relates the cat-astrophe that befell Baguette’s ancestors when Catlantis was struck by storms and sank to the bottom of the Catlantic Ocean. Now Baguette must travel into the past in order to bring back the Catlantic flowers that will grant every cat nine lives. All the cats of the world have been awaiting his deed, but can Baguette, a lovesick tabby, fulfill the prophecy?

“[Starobinets’s] first title for youngsters translated into English is a trippy, silly tale of cat magic, folklore, and love . . . Bugaeva's punny translation will make this a fine read-aloud. A must for those seeking culturally diverse literary experiences.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A madcap and highly original adventure” —The Observer, Children’s Books of the Year

“Catlantis is edifying as well as amusing...keeps the reader enthralled to the end in this imaginative epic.” —The Times Literary Supplement

Anna Starobinets is an acclaimed, award-winning Russian novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. Best known as a writer of dystopian and metaphysical novels and short stories, she is also a successful children’s author. Catlantis is her first children’s book to be translated into English.

Andrzej Klimowski studied at Saint Martin’s School of Art and the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. He is an author of graphic novels and a designer of film and theater posters as well as numerous book covers, including the entire Everyman Collection of P.G. Wodehouse. He is a professor of illustration at the Royal College of Art.