Review: Simon’s Cat vs. The World by Simon Tofield

Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: February 1, 2023 by Crystal Uys

You know Simon’s Cat from his YouTube videos. It all started with Cat Man Do, which I believe was the original Simon’s Cat video. The hand drawn animated video featuring black and white pencil drawings of a cat trying to wake his guardian has garnered more than 45 million views since it was posted five years ago.

Since then, Simon’s Cat has become an empire, featuring more videos, books, and merchandise ranging from t-shirts to cat beds to fine art prints.

Simon’s Cat vs. The World is the fourth book in Simon Tofield’s series based on his YouTube cartoon character. For the first time, Simon’s white cat is featured in full color.

From the publisher:

The bendy-as-rubber, demanding-as-a-debutante feline faces off against his own environment—the beanbag chair, lawn gnomes, neighborhood dogs, and Simon’s model ship—in full-page, full-color illustrations. Tofield’s cartooning is wonderfully fluid: the cat is beautifully rendered in simple lines, and is as flexible and highly expressive as the real thing. His indoor and outdoor misadventures are filled with details that increase the laughs with every viewing. Each page is wordless except for a simple one- or two-word caption each, and sight gags range from the outrageous—most cats can’t throw snowballs or use a crowbar to break through another home’s cat flap for purloining food—to the familiar (pawing frantically at a nature documentary about birds on the television, flopping belly-first on the middle of a Scrabble board). Cat lovers will adore this and will nod in recognition of real-life cat behavior; cartoon fans will delight in Tofield’s graceful skill in capturing the slinkiness, stealth, and self-absorption of our feline masters.

The full color format took some getting used to at first. I’ve come to adore the black and white drawings from previous books, and from the YouTube videos. The use of color adds another dimension, and makes you linger on each page as you discover a thousand little details in the drawings. Tofield not only masterfully captures the cat, but also portrays other animals in ways that bring out their unique personalities.

My favorite part is, once again, the section titled “Simon Draws,” in which Tofield shows step by step how he draws a Siamese, Persian, and Tabby Cat, and a squirrel. He makes it look so easy – but no amount of trying to follow his instructions made my drawings look even remotely like his.

This book will delight fans of Simon’s Cats and cat lovers and makes a great stocking stuffer. Simon’s Cat vs. the World is available from Amazon and other booksellers.

For more information about the book, and Simon’s Cat, please visit www.SimonsCat.com.

Coming soon: an exclusive interview with Simon Tofield!

I’m very excited that I will have an opportunity to interview Simon Tofield when his book tour brings him to Washington DC later this month. If you have questions for Simon, leave them in a comment, and I’ll do my best to get answers for you.

About the author

Ingrid King

Ingrid King is an award-winning author, former veterinary hospital manager, and veterinary journalist who is passionate about cats.