Michael Rosen is a minor celebrity in England, as the presenter of the children's book radio show, "Treasure Islands," and he's written more than 140 books, according to Wikipedia. So it's fun to watch him struggle with the challenge of writing his own children's book in "Moving". Will it be simple or ambitious - and charming or pretentious? Rosen steps up to these questions with his first sentence, where he captures the thoughts of a mysterious cat.
"No one knows what I do. No one knows where I go... That's how it was till the boxes came."
Much of this book's personality comes from the thoughtful illustrations by Sophy Williams. The cat stands alert among potted plants, or pokes curiously into the new boxes on the floor. ("[G]ood smells, bad smells, going in.") Sophy even tucks a significant plot point into the background of one of her drawings. As the cat sniffs at a broken orange cup, the room is empty behind it. "And it became bare," writes Rosen.
Both the artist and the illustrator remain true to the cat's perspective. The cat doesn't know that its family is moving, and Rosen records its simple thoughts. "I ate. I was licking the last...but first - the hands came for a tickle and No. There was a twist and a push and I was in." And Sophy perfectly renders the shock to the cat. She show it grabbed from behind - claws reaching for the floor - by a small child who makes the cat's back rise in an arch.
Cats don't like moving, and Rosen tries to capture the cat's instinctive reaction. ("This is what teeth are for, this is what claws are for, and that dark somewhere was ripped and scarred and chewed.") By using the cat's perspective, the story preserves all the mystery of the family's transition between homes. The cat still doesn't know what's going on, but "There was a creak and I was out and away." It scampers up a strange new staircase, with is covered with a bright red carpet.
There's a wonderful drawing of the family's boxes in the hallway outside of an empty room. Warm light shines through the window panes, but only the cat's tail is visible. It's hiding in a closet, and Rosen offers an explanation. "I warmed a new nowhere and I waited." The little boy is sad, presumably missing his cat, but the cat's thoughts still dwell on their move. "Now they will worry, now they will be sorry...but I won't, I won't come to those hands that twisted and pushed and held me in."
But they finally lure it out with dinner.