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Seven Stories Press

Works of Radical Imagination

Book cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub
Book cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy CubBook cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy CubBook cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy CubBook cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub

Translated by Aviel Basil

Illustrated by Sondra Silverston

The first children's book to appear in English by the award-winning Israeli master storyteller Edgar Keret.

What happens when a tired boy with a fertile imagination is left to fend for himself at the zoo? Well, if his father is too busy to play and must talk business on his phone, and it's close to naptime, then ... a lot. After freeing sad animals from their cages, the boy takes a ride in an airship with an old turtle and a lazy rhinoceros. Once on board, he describes to Habakkuk, the ship's captain, the traits of the rarely seen long-haired cat-boy cub: Long-haired cat-boy cubs need to be played with once an hour to stay alive. Also, you cannot wash a long-haired cat-boy cub in water, they only like to drink juice and chocolate milk, and, most of all, you must listen to a long-haired cat-boy cub's story to the end even if you get a call from work. 

Etfar Keret's Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub, as translated by Aviel Basil and illustrated by Sondra Silverston, is a clever and captivating tale that will appeal to any cub who has busy parents and a busier imagination.

Book cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub
Book cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy CubBook cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy CubBook cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy CubBook cover for Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub

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“A perfect book with a young lad left to his own devices by his workaholic father just one time too many. . . . charming, clever, obvious, intelligent and witty.”

“Basil's colorful, double-paged illustrations capture the emotions and the magic and provide lots of visual surprises. . . . a poignant cautionary tale told with kindness and humor.”

Born in Tel Aviv in 1967, ETGAR KERET is a leading voice in Israeli literature and cinema. He is the author, most recently, of the memoir The Seven Good Years, as well as the children's book Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub and five bestselling story collections, which have been translated into more than 40 languages. His work has appeared in The New York TimesLe MondeThe Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Paris Review, among other publications, and on This American Life, where he is a regular contributor. He has also written a number of screenplays, and Jellyfish, his first film as a director alongside his wife Shira Geffen, won the Caméra d'Or prize for best first feature at Cannes in 2007. In 2010 he was named a Chevalier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Most recently, he received the 2016 Charles Bronfman Prize and, for the Italian edition of The Seven Good Years, the Premio Letterario Adei-Wizo.