My Friend May

 My Friend May

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       June 3, 2025

 

Author  Julie Fleet

Distributor:      New South Books
ISBN:                 9781778401718
Publisher:         Greystone Books
Release Date:   3 June 2025  

Website:    https://newsouthbooks.com.au/books/my-friend-may/ 

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There are overtones in the book My Friend May that indicate the author’s background. The names, the illustrations and the language tell us that the author is of Cree extraction. She has written this story to expand our knowledge of her people, and customs. It is a story of a little girl, and her cat May. We learn about Margaux and how she has had her cat since she was six. The two are inseparable.

May was always an explorer. She liked to be under things and to check out the long grass around the home. Always though, the black cat would be home for her meal. Then one day she did not come in for her dinner. All the family went to look for her. They crawled under furniture; they went to the paddock to call her name. No May. Inside the house, Margaux’s aunty (Nitosis) was packing her boxes to move to the city. It was a sad goodbye, and the girl, was worried for her cat.

Aunty arrived at her new home in the city, and when she began to unpack, she heard a Meowww. Yes, May had hopped into one of the boxes. The cat was united with her owner and the story ends happily.

At the back of the book is an interesting Glossary of Cree words, many of which are used throughout the story. There is also an invitation by the author for us to tell our own cat stories.

The introduction of the North American Indian Culture adds a new dimension to this tale.

Childrens, Fiction