Hvor skal kattene bo?

Torill Kove is an Oscar-winning illustrator and author from Norway. Hvor skal kattene bo? ("Where will the cats live?") was her first silent book, part of a project from the publisher called "word-free books".​​​ With Hvor skal kattene bo?, Kove has chosen a rather heavy and difficult theme: divorce and the breaking up of a home.

At the start of the book, we see a young couple falling in love. Before moving in together, they go to a pet store and choose two beautiful cats to live with them. We see them create a life together, and then we see them fall out of love with each other. When moving apart, the couple decides to split the cats and have one each. This does not work well - one cat ends up depressed, the other one acts out. They see a vet, who advices that the cats should live together. But the cats do not enjoyed the shared custody, which means being moved on a regular basis. In the end, the former couple figures out a perfect solution.

Kove creates beautiful illustrations that are easy to read. She uses a thick, black line as outline for her colorful characters, keeping the background either muted or all white. This makes it easier to focus on the action, and leaves lots of room for the reader's imagination to "fill in the blanks". She alternates between full-page images and different kinds of panels, with the two exceptions that are full spreads - one for the scene where the couple drive in separate directions when splitting up, and one for the happy ending. Many of the pages read like storyboards for a movie, like the one describing the process of moving in together, or the very powerful three-panel page where the couple falls out of love.

Kove's cat illustrations are what makes this book really special. The cats seem to reflect the mood of their humans - if the humans are happy, they are happy, if the humans are upset, the cats get upset - with a few exeptions most cat owners will be able to relate to, like when the couple are trying to sleep in and the cats want to be fed. 

Due to the many layers of this visual story it has the potential to touch a wide range of age groups. The youngest readers might read this as a straightforward story. Adult readers might interpret the cats as phusical manifestations of the humans' feelings, or of an easier way to discuss child custody, and will probably connect more with the difficult feelings the adults are experiencing. For all groups, there are important lessons to be learned - even though relationships and feelings change, we can still work together to give the ones we love the very best care.