Like its reclusive and indecisive teenaged protagonist, Sosuke Natsukawa’s THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS isn’t quite sure what it wants to be in the world. But it ends up heading boldly in the right direction --- and isn’t that what anyone would most wish for young people in our strange times?

This short-reading fantasy novel (coming in at just under 200 pages of quite spacious type) is the second literary work by Natsukawa, whose full-time job in his home city of Nagano, Japan, is medicine. In fact, his first book drew inspiration from his work as a doctor and became a hit film.

THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS is cut from quite a different pattern. The story is basically, but charmingly, a classic quest tale, complete with mysterious journeys through improbable landscapes, wildly eccentric characters to conquer, a whiff of real danger, an emerging romance, and a series of small epiphanies culminating in a huge “Aha!” moment of self-realization.

"As a self-forming tale that moves from tentative to certain, it will reawaken the curious child in all of us and slow life down so that we too can 'save' books by reading them with the love they deserve."

Rintaro Natsuki, an orphaned high-school student who would much rather read dusty tomes in his deceased grandfather’s used book shop than attend classes, is suddenly confronted by Tiger, a magical talking ginger tabby cat, who insists on commandeering the boy’s help to “save” books.

If you’ve encountered C.S. Lewis’ iconic Chronicles of Narnia, think of a miniature Aslan-in-training. And the similarities don’t end there.

Whenever Tiger turns up unannounced to lead Rintaro off on another quest (there are four in all), they embark through the back of the shop, whose solid wall dissolves into surreal landscapes. And completing the traveling relationship is straight-talking classmate Sayo Yuzuki, who could stand in for any of the Lewis schoolgirls who are always there to set their male companions straight (whether they like it or not). Who can say no to a girl who plays the bass clarinet and is the only other human in Rintaro’s universe who can also see the magical cat?

It would be “spoilerish” to recount exactly what transpires in each of the fantastical quests that Rintaro accomplishes --- at first reluctantly, and then with Sayo’s fierce and fearless support. But the big takeaway that loosely stitches this slightly befuddled story together is that the cat in the title doesn’t literally save any books.

Like the recently deceased grandfather (who indeed may be speaking through Tiger), Rintaro learns how to save the idea of books and the powerful relationships they nurture. In doing so, he comes into his own, ready to meet a world that has grown much larger than the tiny bookstore in which he had taken refuge.

THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS is age-appropriate for everyone who can read. As a self-forming tale that moves from tentative to certain, it will reawaken the curious child in all of us and slow life down so that we too can “save” books by reading them with the love they deserve.