I recently read Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander. I was looking for a new audiobook and I liked Alexander because of his Prydain books. The audiobook I got was read by Ron Keith.
Time Cat is a children's novel about a boy named Jason and his time-travelling cat Gareth. It is episodic in structure, with the two of them journeying to various times and places throughout history, including ancient Egypt, late republic Rome, 1500s Peru, medieval Germany and others.
Honestly, I didn't enjoy this book much. The biggest problem is something I've seen in several children's shows, less so in books: so that the child protagonists have something to do, all of the adults tend to act like morons. Also, everywhere he went, people either had never encountered cats before or were strangely obsessed with them somehow.
Being a basically episodic children's novel, I expected it to have a kind of lesson with each incident, but either it didn't or the lessons just didn't make much impression.
Also, Ron Keith's reading here was unbearably cutesy. His voice tone was like a sweet chocolate bar dipped in syrup and rolled in brown sugar. It was far too much. I honestly don't think I could accurately reproduce this kind of performance. I suspect you could have Ron Keith read a graphic torture scene in a tone that would have you react with "A-a-aw" (in three syllables of rising tone).
There are many children's books I've re-read and enjoyed as an adult. A well-written children's book can have a lot of depth. I did not find that here. If you liked this book as a child, sorry if I'm ruining your memories, but I did not like it as an adult.
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