Thrift Spotlight: The Valentine Cat

Introducing a new series, Thrift Spotlight, where I will showcase favorite thrift finds from my collection and explain why they are meaningful to me.

One of the reasons that I comb thrift stores for treasures is to recapture precious memories, especially those that have been lost to time and advancing age. This week's spotlight item is a book from my childhood.

I picked up this book a couple of years ago at a thrift store. When I saw the title and the cover image, I remembered immediately that I had read the book as a child and I had such good feelings about it that although I didn't recall the story, I knew I had to bring it home for my children. I stashed it away waiting for Valentine's Day to roll around, but forgot about it until I came across it the other day tucked in among our valentine making supplies.

This book is a delightful and inspiring tale of a lonely and down-on-his-luck artist and a lost cat, and how they change each others lives forever. The teal, red, white, and black illustrations are just as wonderful as the story. My three children were entranced as I read this story aloud to them; I highly recommend it for a read-aloud session either at bedtime or at school.

I believe this book, originally published in 1959, is out of print but a quick search turned up a number of inexpensive used copies at amazon.com. Or you could always search the book section at your nearby thrift store!