Noah's Cats and the Devil's Fire

A retelling of a traditional Romanian tale in which the devil turns out to be the most troublesome passenger on Noah's ark

Grade 1-4-- As the animals board the ark, the devil confronts Noah and demands a place. He is turned away, but turns himself into a mouse and slips on board. He tries to aggravate Noah in various ways, but the partiarch interprets every act positively. Furious, the devil-mouse starts gnawing a hole to sink the ark. However, his plan fails when he entices the other two mice to join in his scheme, and Noah notices the three of a kind instead of the requisite two. One of the cats swallows the devil-mouse and then spits him into the ocean where he becomes a viper fish. The Romanian tale on which Olson bases her text has parallels in other Eastern European stories that pit the good cat against the evil mouse. However, the story will be unfamiliar to most children. Moser's dark and brooding watercolors create a suitable air of malevolence. With glowing red eyes, the devil is appropriately menacing and ugly. However, most of the other pictures are also so dark that details are obliterated, which will greatly reduce the book's effectiveness with all but the smallest group. Moser's cover illustration of a staring cat is unforgettable in its powerful gaze at readers. The book might be considered with other recent retellings of folklore about the flood such as Warren Ludwig's Old Noah's Elephants (Putnam, 1991), Janet Stevens's How the Manx Cat Lost Its Tale (HBJ, 1990), or Allen Alexander's Llama and the Great Flood (Crowell, 1989).
- Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In Romanian folklore, the Devil (disguised as a mouse) attempts to wreak havoc aboard Noah's ark. This retelling produces some thrills of terror as the Devil-mouse plots and scampers, yet Moser's illustrations are a bit disappointing. Though boldly larger-than-life and filled with energy, the dark and murky images are often difficult to distinguish. Olson's text, while forthrightly presented, evinces a frivolous air. The tale of Noah's victory over the Devil--with a little feline assistance--is dotted throughout with hypotheticals ("And what did Noah's cats do then?"; "Just think how the Devil felt") that render it coy and Mother Goose-ish. Yet this jaunty tone heightens the distinctions between the devil's "playfulness" and his desire for destruction. This twist on the familiar story of Noah may well provoke discussions on the nature of the devil--to say nothing of a healthy fear of black cats. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In a Romanian version of the biblical story, the devil disguises himself as a mouse and sneaks aboard the Ark after Noah orders him away. Repeatedly, the devil-mouse contrives mischief; but Noah fails to see the dirt after the mouse bathes in his washbowl, only noticing how pleasantly warm the water is; and when it gnaws holes in the grain sacks, he is happy to find that the ducks have already been fed. The devil's worst miscalculation is in enlisting the two real mice to help gnaw through the hull; Noah knows that three is the wrong number and calls his cats, who oust the intruder--thus acquiring sparks in their fur. Olson's vigorous retelling compels attention with its use of concrete, amusing detail. Moser sets the story in a rain-drenched world with many of the full-bleed illustrations painted in black watercolor on a ground of luminous deep blue-green, like the eerie light of a violent summer storm. Other illustrations are dramatic close-ups, their low vantage points and cropped edges pulling the viewer into awesome scenes: the red-eyed mouse peering from the gloom beneath a lion's face; the fuming devil, a gargoyle of fire and dark. Here, Moser, known for his subtle portraits, not only interprets and enriches the story with intriguing detail but propels it with the design's flow from page to page; as for St. Jerome and the Lion (1991), Moser's elegant typography incorporates exquisite calligraphic titles. An outstandingly handsome setting for a winner of a story. (Folklore/Picture book. 5-11) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.