This story is based on a legend of Sesshu Toyo who became a famous artist that drew cats. The paintings were said to be very realistic. This book provides culture to a classroom's book shelf and encourages knowledge of different legends and cultures that students may or may not be accustomed to.

This is a Japanese folk tale about a boy who liked to draw cats. He drew cats instead of working on the farm, so his father sent him to a monastery. He was very bright, but was more interested in drawing cats than reading scripture, and drew cats in inappropriate places, so the monks sent him away. Then everyone discovered his cats had magic powers and were able to vanquish a demon. ( )

The books was about a boy who came from a large family. He was the smallest and cleverest they thought he wasn't capable of doing much farming because he wasn't big enough, so his family took him to the priest to see if he could teach him to be a priest. The priest became annoyed with him because the boy wouldn't stop drawing cats everywhere and he finally told him he had to leave but gave him some advice. He told the boy to stay out of large places at night stay in small places. The boy left and ended up in a temple that had a goblin living in it, only the boy didn't know about the goblin. He did notice all the black wall space that he could draw cats on. The boy drew many cats, then remember what the priest said he climbed into a cupboard and went to sleep. he woke up to screams and scratches, but he was afraid and didn't look out of the cupboard. The noises finally stopped and when he got up he notices the goblin laying on the floor dead and all the cats on the wall had blood around their mouths. ( )

An outcast learns that the things that set him apart are his greatest strengths.

This is the story of the 15th century Japanese legend of the artist Sesshu Toyo. The legend is about a young boy that was sent to a monastery to be a priest, but instead is sent away to be an artist. The boy ends up going to an even larger monastery in search of refuge, but instead finds an empty temple and begins to cover the walls in his drawings of great cats. The boy begins to grow fearful, so he hides in a nearby cabinet for the night. In hiding in a small space, he heads the advice of his former priest mentor. He awakes that morning to find that the temple had been haunted by a giant rat "goblin" and that his beautiful drawings were so real and powerful that they killed the rat.