Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin

Benjamin West comes from a deeply religious family, and his Quaker beliefs forbid the creation of images. But Benjamin wants to draw. At first he makes do with a quill pen and black ink, but red foxes, green frogs, and autumn leaves demand color. He learns how to make paints using things he digs out of the earth. As for a paintbrush... well, that's where the cat Grimalkin comes into the story. With hairs from the black cat's uncommonly long tail, Benjamin makes his paintbrushes and creates his art.

Eventually he will be known as the father of American painting, but it all starts with a young boy and a cat.

Good little book from one of my favorite childhood authors. I never read this one as a kid, but my dad lost my old books so I recently bought a Marguerite Henry box set that includes this book.

Benjamin West is a 7- to 8-year-old Quaker boy a day's ride outside of Philadelphia. He and his large family run Door Latch Inn. Quakers don't have decor because life must be strictly practical. However, he dreams of painting. He adopts a black cat from a German boy that tried to rescue it, and named it Grimalkin. Grimalkin accompanies Benjamin from his first attempt at drawing, learning to use pigments from the Native Americans, meet important people in Philadelphia, and ultimately winning him a future outside conventional Quaker rules. That is show more history, and Henry weaves it into a comfy fictional narrative.

My main complaint is the pacing. We know what becomes of Benjamin in his adulthood, and this book focuses on his start. However, since it focuses on that first year or so, I kept feeling like I was still reading the first few chapters of a book--it didn't feel progressive. I'm not sure how Henry's writing had this effect on me, or if it was entirely just my mood.

Ultimately I put this story in the "sweet and simple" category. There's nothing truly wrong with it to me, but it also wasn't anything incredible. Just a gentle good. show less

So much is probably fabricated. Plausible, but not necessarily accurate. For example, it is likely that he was friendly with the "Indians" because otherwise how could he paint them so well when when adult? But I wish the actual Nation or Tribe were named, and I wish they weren't drawn with paint. Also I sure do wish some of his studies and early works were on google so I could see what so impressed his family and mentors when he was a boy.

But, as a sort of historical fiction, it is an interesting book. I'm glad I'm finding stories by MH that I missed. Perhaps it is best for we who are fans, and not great for today's young children.

Benjamin West was born with an extraordinary gift—the gift of creating paintings of people, animals, and landscapes so true to life they “took one’s breath away.” But Benjamin is part of a deeply religious Quaker family, and Quaker beliefs forbid the creation of images. Because Benjamin’s family didn’t approve of his art, he had to make his own painting supplies. The local Native Americans taught him how to mix paints from earth, clay, and plants. And his cat, Grimalkin, sacrificed hair from his tail for Ben’s brushes.

Benjamin West was born with an extraordinary gift—the gift of creating paintings of people, animals, and landscapes so true to life they “took one’s breath away.” But Benjamin is part of a deeply religious Quaker family, and Quaker beliefs forbid the creation of images.
Because Benjamin’s family didn’t approve of his art, he had to make his own painting supplies. The local Native Americans taught him how to mix paints from earth, clay, and plants. And his cat, Grimalkin, sacrificed hair from his tail for Ben’s brushes.