Magic may seem like a fat, lazy cat but he has a big imagination. ( )

Poor Magic! Magic has a great imaginative mind that causes him to want to do various things outside his home, but his excessive amount of weight disables him to stay on the front porch of the house. Magic is a sloth of a cat. He is a sort of dreamer. The story implicitly poses a philosophical question: Do I stay in and watch life pass me by or do i go out in the world and make my dreams become a reality? The illustrations presents the vastness of the world using space that shows magic being in a state of isolation from the other animals. I enjoyed how the perspective changed from dreams and reality. Some illustrations showed magic's ideas of things he wanted to do while others showed what magic was actually doing. ( )

A book of imagination and creative thought. Teaches kids to be open mind and imaginative when bored or lonely. ( )

I really enjoyed this children's story about a cat and what's going through its head. The things the cat described made me think of Maine. Love the illustrations, too. ( )

"Magic contemplates his next move. Should he go in? Or out? Or should he stay right where he is..." So begins this adorable tale of a tubby feline - Magic is one fat cat! - who decides (as is so often the case with our cat companions) that staying put is the best course of action. Of course a sedentary feline can still dream, and Magic entertains a thrilling story of his own exploits - riding on the back of a swimming moose to a nearby island, and enjoying a feast of salmon and blackberries with the local bears - as he sits in the doorway, peacefully napping and watching the lake.

Apparently Magic is a real cat(!), as revealed by the photograph and brief biography on the back cover of Elisha Cooper's book. This makes perfect sense to me, as he feels like a real cat in the story. Many is the time I have observed my own cat pondering the difficult choices available to him - nap on the bed? stretch out in the windowsill? make the long trek to the kitchen for some kibble? - before settling back down again into a relaxed snooze. Cooper clearly knows his cats, something that comes through in his simple but expressive story, and his charming artwork, which captures the beauty and humor of one large kitty's life. Highly recommended to all cat lovers, young and old! ( )