I am Maru by Mugumogu

I have to giggle when I read the title for this post. It is certainly a mouthful. 🙂

If you are regular reader of She Scribes you know that I am a HUGE animal lover. I think my mini-zoo that consists of four adult cats, a kitten and a dog who thinks he’s a cat pretty much says it all. I also volunteer my time at the local shelter taking photos of the animals to use in various publications (local) and on PetFinder.org.

I was recently asked if I would be interested in reading and reviewing a book based upon the viral web sensation Maru the cat entitled I am Maru. Some of you might have seen his videos on the Internet. Maru is a large, Scottish Fold gray, black and white male cat that has a “thing” for boxes. When I showed the videos to my kids they were laughing so hard that I think they were going to cry.

Here is a Maru video.

 I love how he plays with boxes. My cats do that too but not in a funny way like Maru does.

If you visit YouTube and search for Maru you’ll find dozens of videos, I believe some dating back as far as 2008.

I find it funny that Maru has a whole book dedicated to him. I couldn’t imagine what the book would be like prior to receiving a copy. I figured it would be nothing but a picture book. In a way it is but there is actually a lot of writing in the book too.

The book is all about Maru, from his humble beginnings to his current celebrity status.

The book is written narrated by Maru’s owner who is never seen in photos or in the videos. Part of the book is also written as if Maru wrote it himself.

I guess you have to be a cat lover or someone who appreciates cute things. My husband looked over the book and said “It’s just a bunch of pictures of the cat“. Yes, that is true, but most of the pictures are really adorable. They show Maru in a variety of situations, from just being a lazy cat who likes to lie around to Maru being a crazy cat, always getting into mischief.

I’m a cat lover, and I love cute things. I found the book to be very charming. I guess it could have worked as a picture book too with no text. Either way is fine. I read the book from begining to end (it’s a quick and easy read). My kids “read” the book but they only focused on the pictures, not the text.

If you have a cat you can probably relate to many of the images in the book. My cats tend to behave in ways similar to Maru. Like Maru my cats LOVE to try and squeeze themselves into itty bitty boxes. It’s rather amusing to see a 15+ pound cat trying to get comfortable in a shoe box. 🙂

My daughter pointed out that one of our cats, Anakin, sort of looks like Maru. I’m not sure of any of my cat’s breeds. It’s possible Anakin could be a Scottish Fold too. I’ll have to ask the vet that the next time we take him.

I am Maru is carried by several book retailers, including Amazon. I see on Amazon that there is actually a second book, appropriately called I am Maru 2.

You can also subscribe to Maru’s YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/mugumogu. Maru has 154,511 subscribers to his YouTube channel. That is amazing!

Maru even has a website, http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/. It’s written in both Japanese and English. There you can find photos similar to the kind of photos you will find in the I am Maru book.

If you are a cat lover, or know someone who is, I am Maru would make a lovely gift. I would even say it could be used as a coffee table book too.

Kimberly

*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.