The cat who saved the library A novel

Physician/novelist Natsukawa returns, again comfortably English-enabled by Kawai, with another best-selling Tiger-the-tabby bookish adventure. Meet 13-year-old Nanami, whose asthmatic attacks have triangulated her young life between home, school, and library. The precocious teen seems to be the only bibliophilic patron to notice books are disappearing permanently from library shelves. "None of the cats that I know talk," she responds upon meeting Tabby, who retorts, "We cats just don't babble on meaninglessly like humans do." Like young Rintaro in The Cat Who Saved Books (2021) (rewarding updates await), Nanami, armed with her inhaler, will confront three menacing challenges: the General's literary thievery, the Prime Minister's irresistibly empty neo-books, and the King's (seemingly) all-consuming fiery power. Gentlemen thief Arsène Lupin and Musketeer Porthos can't help but join Nanami's courageous rebellions. "Your mind is the most powerful weapon in that labyrinth," Tabby reminds us, especially when it's fed with the renewing, empathizing, lifesaving power of books. Readers may notice some didactic repetition, but in the midst of proliferating book bans, libraries shuttering, and threats to reading freely, Natsukawa undoubtedly, antidotally, provides another necessary hero.