The Cat at Night (1969)

by Dahlov Ipcar

Other authors: Dahlov Ipcar (Illustrator)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
157	4	174,854	(4.27)	None
Animal Stories. Picture book. Join the farmer's cat on his fascinating nighttime journey through fields, farms, forests, and even the city to see what only he can see after the sunsets. Legendary artist Dahlov Ipcar mesmerizingly alternates between dark night scenes and vivid color to deliver a beautifully illustrated children's classic. Each scene is shown first as a human would see it at night in blacks and whites, and then as a cat sees it in with vivid color and fine detail. This commemorative edition features new back matter about Dahlov's children's books from her biographer, poet and art critic Carl Little. 4 yrs+… (more)

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Showing 4 of 4

This is a re-print of a book from 1969. The artwork feels a product of its time, which means it’s fresh, new, and exciting for modern audiences. This is a simple story of what do cats do at night. It plays up how cats can see better at night than human does. You’ll have one illustration that shows everything dark and asks the reader to guess what the cat is doing or seeing and then the next illustration is what the cat is doing or seeing all in bright colors. It really works for the time and the age that it’s written for and in essence it’s timeless and can be love generation to generation. (

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LibrarianRyan | Oct 12, 2023 |

Do you like cats? If so, this is the children's book for you. I am so pleased this is being reissued. Dahlov Ipcar was an outstanding artist and beautifully brings the cat to life as well as its exploration of the world after dark. I absolutely love this book and cannot wait to see it in real life. A staff pick for sure! (

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Andy5185 | Jul 9, 2023 |

This was an awesome book to read to children because we were able to take some time and find clues in the illustration of where the cat would go next. It was really fun to see the reactions when the kids got the predictions correct. Im personally not a cat person but this book didn't horribly creep me out. It actually gave me a glance into what cats might actually do on a daily when they wander around the neighborhood. (

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RavenM12 | Apr 29, 2019 |

Gorgeous children's book: this was highly reviewed by Dave Eggers in the Nov 09 Cookie magazine. That's where I got the inclination to purchase this one.

I'm so glad I did. The story is simple and sweet. What does the cat do at night when you are asleep? This shows his adventures, and what the cat can see as opposed to what the human eye can see.

My two year old adores it, even though the concept of "nocturnal" or "night vision" means nothing to him. The illustrations are gorgeous.

Lovely. (

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BlackSheepDances | Jan 20, 2010 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Ipcar, Dahlov	Author	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Dahlov Ipcar	Illustrator	secondary author	all editions	confirmed

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Canonical title

The Cat at Night

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1969

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

For Goliath

cat extraordinary

First words

When the farmer goes to bed, he winds the clock and he puts the cat out.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Baldacci, Karen M.

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

Animal Stories. Picture book. Join the farmer's cat on his fascinating nighttime journey through fields, farms, forests, and even the city to see what only he can see after the sunsets. Legendary artist Dahlov Ipcar mesmerizingly alternates between dark night scenes and vivid color to deliver a beautifully illustrated children's classic. Each scene is shown first as a human would see it at night in blacks and whites, and then as a cat sees it in with vivid color and fine detail. This commemorative edition features new back matter about Dahlov's children's books from her biographer, poet and art critic Carl Little. 4 yrs+

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