Tibble, a shy newspaperman, prefers cats to people. His editor calls him into his office one day to complain: "Your articles are always about cats." The discouraged reporter heads off to look for a cat-free scoop; suddenly, a German shepherd, barking furiously, goes racing after--what? A cat? A stork? The dog chases it into an elm tree. Tibble and his accidental benchmate, Mr. Smith, look up into the tree and see "A leg. A leg in a stylish stocking with a shiny, high-heeled shoe on the foot." " 'Heavens,' " said Mr. Smith. 'It's a lady.' "
So begins The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof, originally published in the Netherlands in 1970 and written by the late Annie M.G. Schmidt, recipient of the 1989 Hans Christian Andersen Award. The young lady chased by a dog up a tree is named Minou, and the reason she's so "cattish" is that she used to be a cat, until she ate out of a rubbish bin at the Institute for Biochemical Research. Tibble takes Minou into his home and, in return, Minou uses her abundant cat contacts to become an excellent source for all the city's breaking news. The genuinely funny story of how these two shy beings make room for each other in their lives is as irresistible as kittens. Schmidt raises questions about what it is to be human, what it is to be a cat, what it is to be something in between, and what it means to accept someone for who she is, even if she is "shilly-shallying" herself. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness