All dogs bite!”

“I do not like broccoli!”

“I’m scared of rabbits!”

More than once we rush to formulate an opinion based on generalization, a rumor or a single experience. But is that always true?

Sometimes one attempt that did not go well makes us give up on new experiences, on new friends, and opportunities to expand our world.

The boy in the story does not like cats, he thinks he knows everything about them: they howl at night, they are unpredictable, and sometimes they even scratch. An encounter between a child and a little orange cat like a pumpkin manages to surprise the child and the readers. What did the red cat do to change the boy’s mind? And how does anyone even change his mind?

Change of opinion requires courage, openness and faith in the good. This story exercises openess and bravery to know new friends and new experiences.

When a child changes his mind about something he deserves all the praise and the respect!

2004 |  32 pp. |  Age 4+ | English and Japanese translation available | Rights Sold: English (World), Arabic, Hebrew

Jonathan Yavin, author and journalist, has published four adult novels, three youth novels, one writer’s guide, and nine best-selling children’s books. He received the Book Publishers Association’s Platinum Prize for the Hebrew edition of Pumpkin the Kitten (sold over 220,000 copies) and the Prime Minister’s Prize for for his second novel House-Sitter.

Gilad Soffer, illustrator and author of children books, has illustrated critically acclaimed books and won prizes, among them is Jonathan Yavin’s Oh, Brother which won the Israel Museum’s Ben Yitzhak Award for children’s book illustration.