When I saw this book on my summer book list I though it was going to be a boring story about a cat who lived a good life, died, and went to heaven. I was very wrong. "The Cat who went to Heaven" was a book about a poor Japanese artist who sent his housekeeper out to get some food. Instead, she came home with a cat they called Good Fortune. Soon after they got the cat a priest came to ask the artist to paint a picture of the dying Buddha to hand in the temple. The artist painted pictures of many significant animals in the Buddha's many lives. Each animal he finished painting was looked over by Good fortune. Each time she seemed to say, "Good job, but where is the cat?" Good Fortune became so depressed she refused to eat. The artist knew the cat was not to be in the picture because she refused to take the teaching of Buddha, but he hated to see his cat so depressed so he painted Good Fortune at the end of the line. Good Fortune saw the cat and died right there of sheer happiness. When the priest came back and saw the picture, he was outraged. He took the painting to be burned as soon as possible. When the artist awoke the next morning, everyone was running to see his painting. When he saw the picture, Good Fortune was at the bed of the dying Buddha, being petted by Buddha himself. The priests kept the painting and admitted Buddah was always willing to forgive. TMH 6/17/08