Blumpoe the Grumpoe Meets Arnold the Cat

"Horace P. Blumpoe was a grump. Everyone in his neighborhood thought so. They all called him Blumpoe the Grumpoe." So begins award-winning author Jean Davies Okimoto's charmingly quirky tale of a how a cat monkeys his way into the heart of an alleged curmudgeon. One November day, when Horace decides to head for Wabasha to pay his sister a visit, his car breaks down. Grumpily, he finds himself at the Anderson Hotel, a special inn with 19 resident cats, available to each guest to adopt for the length of his or her stay. Horace, of course, is not interested, and certainly not pleased; "I thought this was a hotel, not a kennel!" he shouts as he stomps off to his room. At 6:00, however, the only remaining unpicked cat (Arnold) refuses to let poor Horace go catless for a night. Arnold's delightful persistence, Horace's angry resistence, and Howie Schneider's wonderful, cartoonish illustrations will have readers laughing out loud and waiting for Horace's heart to melt along with their own. (Ages 4 to 8)