by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 27, 2009

She'd sold over 170 million books - and then wrote a children's book about a cat. Ann M. Martin created the "Baby-sitters Club" series, and even wrote the first 35 books in the series herself, according to Wikipedia. But in 2000, when the series ended, Martin turned her attention to a real-life story about a cat that lived in her uncle's church in Kentucky. Martin teamed up with Emily Arnold McCully, the illustrator behind "Mirette on the Highwire" (which won the Caldecott Medal in 1993). Together they told the colorful story of "Leo the Magnificat."

The book's title page shows the cat strolling past a tall fence of iron bars, then strolling down the path into the church's garden. ("This book is for all the people who remember the real Leo," Martin writes in a dedication.) The cat sits by a fountain, and the church's secretary asks gently,"Where did you come from?" But soon the children at the church are also offering their own commentary.

"'He's not well fed, he's fat!' exclaimed Allie.
"'Extra fat,' said Whitney."

When they can't find the owner, the reverend says that the cat can stay. And Mrs. Moody, the church secretary, isn't the only one who likes the cat. He sits on the piano during choir practice. He visits the church's pot-luck dinners. He even attends the church services, sitting quietly in the pew. And on special occasions, the minister fits the cat with his own clerical collar, introducing him to the congregation as Leo "the Bishop."

It's a true story, and the funny details are enough to keep it interesting. Leo befriends a man at the pot-lucks who likes to eat but hates to cook. And at church services, Leo gets tuna from a friendly woman who likes to cook. Soon the man and the woman have gotten married - and Leo attends the ceremony. Even the homeless people share their food with Leo.

"Leo belonged to nobody, and he belonged to everybody," Martin writes. (And McCully draws four wonderful illustrations on a single page, showing all the different people who are happy when Leo visits.) Leo even makes an appearance in the children's Christmas pageant. When he disappears, the entire church is worried. But it turns out that Leo had just hopped into the back of a passing taxi cab. He'd been riding around with the cab driver all afternoon.

Leo lives at the church for 12 years, but the book culminates with the day when the reverend announces that the vet can't cure the cat's illness, and Leo is put to sleep. "Three days later, Leo the Magnificat was buried by the fountain in the garden," Martin writes, and adds a note about the real-life cat that inspired her story.

"No one who met Leo will ever forget him."

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