i read a lot when i was little, but one of the books i remember most was this particular one about a scrawny stray cat and a beat-up old car and the test of their unlikely friendship. i'm not sure why it appealed to me so much, but i know i started attempting to read it when i was very young, spending entire afternoons struggling my way through it. as i got older, i continued to read it again and again even though i knew the story so well it should have bored me by then. when we finally convinced my father that another cat wasn't going to destroy the balance of our house, i named my josie after the heroine.

so i was incredibly sad to read today that bill peet, the author of jennifer and josephine, died this week. i was surprised to find out that he did a lot of work for disney. somehow i managed to never read any other books of his, even though others are far better known. perhaps i should start now. or even reread my favorite out of ceremony.

of course, i have no idea where the book is packed.

i spent part of today riding in the car on small country roads, which is fitting since the high drama of the story is the rickety car being pushed to the limits on such roads by the villain of the story (fantastically named by the cat: "mr. frenzy"), remembering again how much i love cars and roads. public transportation is great, yes, but a city bus just does not coast around curves the same way.