There are plenty of entertaining stories written about the public mishaps and accomplishments of dogs; they are social animals and can play highly public roles in everything from television sitcoms to real-life emergency situations. The cat, as feline admirers will not hesitate to agree, is more select in its level of tolerance for lowly humans, and thus few true stories are told that revolve around cats in public life. And then there's Henrietta. Christopher Wren belonged to Henrietta the cat, and Christopher Wren travels far and wide in his work as a foreign news correspondent. Of course Henrietta insisted on being brought along to Moscow, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, and all the other cities the Wrens visited. And of course Henrietta got into all sorts of scrapes--cats can cause enough trouble right in their own living rooms! The Cat Who Covered the World is a tremendously entertaining memoir and travelogue, covering 17 years in the life of a busy cat and her accommodating family. Wherever she went, she charmed, and tales of flight attendants bestowing free portions of salmon mousse and Italian taxi drivers blowing kisses into her cage while ignoring the traffic are intertwined with more typical cat stories of sudden escapes into fields, food stealing, and incessant yowling at inappropriate times. For this book, Wren sets aside his investigations and simply enjoys, culling quotes about cats from Mark Twain, Christopher Smart, Deng Xiaoping, and Herodotus for a bit of added depth. His conclusion about the cat/journalist relationship will have all feline fanciers smiling in agreement: "I have met enough celebrity journalists whose smug self-importance might have been ameliorated or corrected altogether by the ownership of a couple of cats." --Jill Lightner


From Publishers Weekly
New York Times editor Wren (Hacks) spins a cutesy tale of his 18 years as a foreign correspondent, which he shared with his cat, Henrietta (as well as wife Jacqueline and children Celia and Chris). A month-old ball of gray fluff delivered by a fellow newswoman on Christmas Eve (with a bottle of Scotch to secure the deal), Henrietta became a full-fledged member of this globe-trotting family, following the author to his posts (Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, New York and Johannesburg, with stopovers and vacations in Italy, Japan and Vermont), winning hearts on airplanes and in hotels, cadging snacks from shopkeepers and diplomats. On board for Anwar Sadat's famous pact with Israel, the slow crumbling of the Soviet Union and the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, the eight-pound New York tabby has witnessed international dramas few humans have. But for all her frequent flier miles, Henrietta's actual exploits differ little from the average house cat'sAthey just occur against exotic backdrops. For instance, when Henrietta shows her affection to an official houseguest by delivering a dead mouse (the feline version of passing the hors d'oeuvres), she makes her presentation to the Pakistani ambassador. When she finally died at the ripe old age of 18Awell past 90 in human yearsAit was after being stalked by ibises in Johannesburg. Sometimes amusing and sweet but mostly slight, Wren's book is purely for extreme cat devot?es. Others will find it as cloying as a hairball. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Wren has written a delightful biography of Henrietta, the family's cat that accompanied him on his assignments as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. By writing in first person, the author gathers and maintains interest as he chronicles the feline's escapades in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, and Johannesburg. Probably the most unusual was her presentation of a dying mouse to the ambassador of Pakistan at a full diplomatic dinner. Wren describes the frequent immigration problems that the family faced and the unusual physicals their pet had to pass. The book is fast moving, and many details of life of foreign cultures are presented with a light touch in an entertaining manner. A few whimsical illustrations of Henrietta reveal her moods and expressions. This will be most popular if booktalked.-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VACopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The title and subtitle say it all. When soon-to-be New York Times foreign correspondent Wren acquired Henrietta (with a bonus bottle of scotch) as a Christmas gift for his two children, the small gray cat became a permanent part of his peripatetic family. She beguiled cold war Soviet bureaucrats and harvested mice in Moscow, survived being lost for more than a month on the mean streets of Cairo, added Chinese yellow fish and crispy giant cockroaches to her menu in Beijing, and was chased by a flock of ibises and did battle with African ants in Johannesburg--not to mention adapting for shorter periods of time to life in Canada, New York City, and Vermont. Interspersed with sidelights on the author's journalistic career and lots of cat lore, Wren's account of Henrietta's extraordinary adventures on four continents--until feline longevity ended her travels at age 18--is both literate and amusing. Make room on the shelves for this one. Barbara Duree
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Lesley Stahl Even if you don't particularly like cats -- and I don't -- you'll still have a thoroughly delightful journey if you travel with Chris Wren and his journalist partner, Henrietta, his part Siamese. I enjoyed every page, every country, every adventure: from Henrietta's catching mice and eating caviar in Moscow, to prosciutto in Rome, to getting lost in Cairo. Seeing the world through the perspective of a cat is somehow both enlightening and enriching. And fun. I loved it.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
If you read the paper, you know Christopher Wren. Stylish, insightful and worldly, Wren￯﾿ﾽs New York Times articles have interpreted foreign politics for the American public for decades. But we don￯﾿ﾽt know Wren, really, until we read this book. Here, the über-analyst of foreign politics details the real life of foreign affairs by chronicling the adventures of his traveling cat, Henrietta. Wren￯﾿ﾽs stories are funny, homey, and sweet -- and through them, we learn what it is to raise a family in the unfamiliar lands of Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, and Johannesburg.

Wren￯﾿ﾽs story begins when he first met Henrietta, a small dust-puff with paws and whiskers. The meeting was inauspicious: ￯﾿ﾽIn describing Henrietta back then, ￯﾿ﾽspunky￯﾿ﾽ and ￯﾿ﾽintrepid￯﾿ﾽ are not the sort of words that spring to mind,￯﾿ﾽ Wren sighs. ￯﾿ﾽHenrietta and I didn￯﾿ﾽt think much of each other, not at first.￯﾿ﾽ But as Wren grew attached to her -- and people always grow attached to their cats, no matter how peculiar they may be -- he realized that she was part of his family. So when the Wrens headed to Moscow for a foreign correspondent post, Henrietta came too. And when the Wrens then stepped off to Cairo, Henrietta stepped herself. Ditto Tokyo, Beijing, Ottawa, and Johannesburg. During her owner's career as a foreign correspondent, editor, and bureau chief, Henrietta became one of the most widely traveled animals on the globe.

As Wren relays the little day-to-day stories that define a cat￯﾿ﾽs life -- and a family￯﾿ﾽs life -- in distant lands, we see much more clearly what￯﾿ﾽs at stake in foreign politics. In Beijing, for example, Wren finds that in order to keep his cat at home, she must undergo a veterinary work-up at the hands of the People￯﾿ﾽs Liberation Army. ￯﾿ﾽThe army veterinarian on duty was a lanky, dour soldier with large hands, which he employed to poke and prod Henrietta, thrusting his unwashed fingers in to every orifice, oblivious to her screeches of protest,￯﾿ﾽ Wren frets. ￯﾿ﾽBut he handled Henrietta deftly before wiping his hands on his white coat and announcing that, yes, the American cat would be permitted to live with us in Beijing.￯﾿ﾽ For those of us who have never lived in Communist China, the incident evokes wonder at the strangely different, strangely similar culture. Vet visits, it seems, are a little different at the People￯﾿ﾽs Liberation Army -- but somehow they retain the soothing sense of home life.

Wren￯﾿ﾽs stories open for us a window on the fascinating world of life in a foreign bureau. Henrietta￯﾿ﾽs adventures are amusing and fun -- and they show us what our lives would be if we lived, with our cats, on the other side of the world. (Jesse Gale)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Henrietta was an ordinary New York City cat until she ventured overseas with foreign correspondent Christopher S. Wren and his wife and children. Over seventeen years and tens of thousands of miles, she became a plucky, indispensable companion for the reporter as he covered world events in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, and Johannesburg.

Wren's often hilarious and sometimes poignant account of an American family's adventures crisscrossing the globe shows them coping with chaos in faraway places -- always with the help of their ever-resourceful feline. The result is a charming tale about a spunky, curious pet who earned the right to be ranked among the world's most widely traveled cats.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

New York Times editor Wren (Hacks) spins a cutesy tale of his 18 years as a foreign correspondent, which he shared with his cat, Henrietta (as well as wife Jacqueline and children Celia and Chris). A month-old ball of gray fluff delivered by a fellow newswoman on Christmas Eve (with a bottle of Scotch to secure the deal), Henrietta became a full-fledged member of this globe-trotting family, following the author to his posts (Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, New York and Johannesburg, with stopovers and vacations in Italy, Japan and Vermont), winning hearts on airplanes and in hotels, cadging snacks from shopkeepers and diplomats. On board for Anwar Sadat's famous pact with Israel, the slow crumbling of the Soviet Union and the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, the eight-pound New York tabby has witnessed international dramas few humans have. But for all her frequent flier miles, Henrietta's actual exploits differ little from the average house cat's--they just occur against exotic backdrops. For instance, when Henrietta shows her affection to an official houseguest by delivering a dead mouse (the feline version of passing the hors d'oeuvres), she makes her presentation to the Pakistani ambassador. When she finally died at the ripe old age of 18--well past 90 in human years--it was after being stalked by ibises in Johannesburg. Sometimes amusing and sweet but mostly slight, Wren's book is purely for extreme cat devot es. Others will find it as cloying as a hairball. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This is a love story of a Siamese cat, Henrietta, who initially wasn't wanted by the author until his wife and children refused to live without her. When Wren, a reporter and editor for the New York Times, was scheduled to transfer to Moscow as a correspondent, he never imagined that Henrietta, who had arrived as a Christmas gift for Wren's children, would be included in the move. His family convinced him otherwise, and that was the beginning of Henrietta's travels. The feline quickly conquered Moscow--dining on caviar, sitting in the lap of dissident Andrei Sakharov, and becoming an excellent mouser. Her purring and cuddly ways also won Wren's love and affection, and after that the two were inseparable. The family moved on to Cairo, where Henrietta was lost for almost a month but miraculously emerged from the slums of Cairo scrawny but feisty as ever. Other overseas assignments took Henrietta and the Wrens to Beijing and Johannesburg. Readers entertained by Peter Gethers's accounts of his own traveling cat (The Cat Who Went to Paris, LJ 8/91; A Cat Abroad, LJ 10/1/93) will relish Henrietta's story. Purchase where interest is high in cat travel stories.--Eva Lautemann, Georgia Perimeter Coll. Lib., Clarkston Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Wren has written a delightful biography of Henrietta, the family's cat that accompanied him on his assignments as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. By writing in first person, the author gathers and maintains interest as he chronicles the feline's escapades in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, and Johannesburg. Probably the most unusual was her presentation of a dying mouse to the ambassador of Pakistan at a full diplomatic dinner. Wren describes the frequent immigration problems that the family faced and the unusual physicals their pet had to pass. The book is fast moving, and many details of life of foreign cultures are presented with a light touch in an entertaining manner. A few whimsical illustrations of Henrietta reveal her moods and expressions. This will be most popular if booktalked.-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Eric Kraft - New York Times Book Review