Kevin Marshall's America
An internal dialogue I had with myself about Warriors, the series of books about feral cats who live by a special cat code from Harper Collins.
——
Hey, what’s “Warriors?”
It’s a children’s book series. Been around since 2003 or 2004
Ohhhhhh. So they’re cat people?
Well, no. They’re just cats. Feral cats that live in forest homes and operate in clans that were created by cats like themselves. The clans are named after these cats, who developed a code of honor they all must abide.
And they wear people clothes.
No. They’re cats and they do cat things.
But while walking on their hind legs and—
—NO. THEY’RE JUST CATS.
And it’s for serious?
Yes.
Wow. I bet whoever created and writes this thing smells absolutely awful.
The author, Erin Hunter, is actually a Harper Collins creation and serves as a pseudonym for three other authors and counting. It’s overseen by an editor who was charged with creating a franchise about feral cats.
Wait, so the Editor and writers didn’t come up with the idea?
No. In fact, when given the assignment, she poo-pooed it.
Wait. There was an executive at Harper Collins who said “we must have a series of books about feral cats who travel in clans and fight each other, come Hell or high water?”
It certainly looks that way.
That’s ridiculous…but it’s, like, super popular!
Shows what we know, right?
Guess so.
Hey, have you seen the website?
No. Why?
Go to it now. Make sure your speakers are on and check out the flash intro.
*falls out of chair laughing*
Ow. My hip.
Sorry.
——
Hey, I’m not being snarky about it. It’s a book for kids and it’s wildly popular. It seems, too, like it delves into some very serious issues that its target audience isn’t ordinarily exposed to, and does so in an effective and entertaining way. I give them nothing but kudos for all of it. I just find the whole concept of this process fascinating, in that some executive not only thought this would work but that it did and then some.
I mean, look at the book covers:
Apparently, their Jesus was Morris the Cat from the old "9 Lives" commercials.
More ridiculousness after the jump.
Again with the stuffy portrait of a kitty cat that looks like it'd be hanging on the wall of a haunted house. It makes me giggle.
The cats, they have the sight. They know, and are given visions from their makers, that tell them that there is indeed Tuna Fish in that vacuum-sealed bag.
Wouldn’t you think that was a joke?
Well, if it is, then nobody’s laughing harder than the people getting the checks.
Share it!
11 Responses to I have discovered that there is a thing called Warriors and it’s about the honor of kitty cats
Leave a Reply
STALK ME
I appreciate cat lovers, but books like these tend to lose my attention–unless the cats were saved by some great person or they were safe, etc. I would actually consider borrowing one from the library and having a look, though.
I truly appreciate “real life” books by Andrew Clements (Simon & Schuster) which give true stories of how cats and dogs saved lives (of other animals and of people). As mentioned elsewhere, I wish I had the means to donate THOUSANDS of Clements’ books to schools (especially in communities where animals have no hope) to educate kids.
Kudos to the compassionate souls.
I have liked these books for a long time. They are not a joke but are good to read and to teach lessons about life. Erin Hunter is a good writer.
I hope her brother Mike starts a series about dogs.
My nephew loves these books. I mean… LOVES. He’s tried to explain it to me at least 20 times, and I still don’t get it. After reading your story, at least I’ll giggle. :-)
I’m not familiar with the books but it seems like a great idea…more so than the Harry Potter stuff.
There are other books that feature animals that communicate with each other that were quite popular like Watership Down (wild rabbits) and Tailchaser’s Song (cats) and one rather disturbing book about a couple of dogs that escape from a research lab called The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams.
There’s something about looking at human behavior through the eyes of animals that makes these tales interesting. Anyone familiar with animals is well aware that there is a lot of communicating going on that we can’t really understand and therefore ignore. All part of our arrogance toward the natural world and the creatures we were put in charge of back in the Garden of Eden.
OMK! I’m going to have to pick one up. That looks too funny and too kitty to pass up.
I wonder how they deal with over population due to not being spade or neutered?
Did you see they are coming out with a bear series, The Watchers?
Ann - The idea of Bears being “watchers” just made me shudder.
It should, Kevin. It should.
This is no more or less ridiculous as the anthropomorphic animals in the Redwall series, which I loved as a kid. Although I’m not going to lie, I think they were vaguely racist. None of the animals followed human racial stereotypes, but there was this notion that certain species were almost always benevolent, and that other species were always evil. Mice = good. Rats = bad. Or otter = good. Stoat = bad.
Cihan - That’s always been prevalent in children’s entertainment, whether it be literature or television. Rats especially.
It’s an interesting dilemma faced by those engaging in anthropomorphic fantasy. You do have that precarious situation humanizing several different species of animals and giving certain species universal attributes or associations (good/evil) can lend itself to the perception of racism. Thing is, though, there is an out in that the most common antagonists in these stories are the predatory animal, and as such the storytelling is more an extension of the reality of their relationships in the wild rather than their human counterparts. There’s no fix for this that lends itself to strong storytelling. One just has to, I suppose, be careful not to cross that line and hope that children know the difference between the antagonistic relationship some animals have towards each other versus the racial component of human interaction. I personally think kids do make that distinction themselves. They’re a lot smarter/more observant than we give them credit for.
So these books are kinda like “Watership Down”, only with cats instead of rabbits?
l’artiste - That’s the impression I get, except with a wider breadth in its Universe (one of the criticisms is that there’s so many characters that younger readers can’t handle it) and much more emphasis on and exploration of the folklore.