These stories are all about a very big city, about men and women and even children and all sorts of uncomfortable feelings. Sauntering somewhere along the very colourful precipice between the real, surreal, feral and human. More specifically, female. Some are English, some are in German, because I couldn't commit to a language. Es geht in diesen Geschichten um eine sehr große Stadt, um Männer und Frauen und sogar Kinder und alle möglichen unangenehme Gefühle. Hängengeblieben irgendwo im bunten Chaos zwischen real, surreal, Tier- und Menschsein. Eher, Frau-Sein. Manche Geschichten sind auf Deutsch, manche auf Englisch, weil ich mich nicht auf eine Sprache festlegen konnte.

Kali's father is a snake catcher - the best in the village. Kali knows that is really something to be proud of, but at school he sometimes gets embarrassed. The other children seem to think there is something very strange about having a snake catcher for a father and eating things like fried termites for a snack. Plus, Kali is the teacher's pet. How will he ever make friends?

Two children sitting at home on a rainy day are visited by the cat who shows them some tricks and games.

A feline ‘West Side Story’ from the creator of Albert le Blanc, Q Pootle 5 and the best-selling Percy the Park Keeper series

Introduces the Chinese zodiac and relates how each of its twelve signs was named for an animal selected by the Jade Emperor.

"Text first published in 1990 by Children's Press, Inc."

A flock of birds was moving toward me along the river, hovering over something floating on the water. It drifteddownstream, closer and closer, until finally it bumped up against the dock. Though it was covered with leaves and branches, now I could tell that it was a raft. I reached down and pushed some of the leaves aside. Beneath them was a drawing of a rabbit. It looked like those ancient cave paintings I'd seen in books--just outlines, but wild and fast and free. Nicky isn't one bit happy about spending the summer with his grandma in the Wisconsin woods, but them the raft appears and changes everything. As Nicky explores, the raft works a subtle magic, opening up the wonders all around him--the animals of river and woods, his grandmother's humor and wisdom, and his own special talent as an artist.