Hi there Anons,I'm coming in search for a children's book that I have read when I was about 5 or 6 (I learned to read alone very early).Context:France, in the late 90s. Probably circa 1996-1998.I have no idea if that was a translation of an English or American book, or purely French. Type of book:An illustrated children's book for very young readers, with very little text and a lot of images. It probably was hardcover.The story:The main character was a female cat depicted in anthropomorphic way, as in many children's stories. She was standing like a human, wearing clothes, living in her own house...What I remember of the "plot" was that this cat lived next to a forest that had some sort of magical abilities (the forest had). At some point, a sort of spell was unleashed on the cat, and she started changing into a deer, which in this universe was apparently still a "wild" (not anthropomorphic) animal. I clearly remember the cat having deer antlers growing on her head and being desperately sad about this transformation, becaus "now she will have to leave her house and go live in the forest". This specific sentence and image are what got strongly written into my memory, as I really felt for the cat in this situation, because well, I was a very stay-at-home kid and having to leave my house forever was such a terrible thought. There really was a sense of ineluctability that hit me.How and why this spell unleashed on the poor cat, I can't remember exactly.I do think there was some "karma" vibe in a children's story way, like the cat did something bad to an inhabitant of the forest, or something unfair, and the big bad Fate came to strike back with this sorcery. How was it ending, I'm not sure either. I do think that it had a happy ending, like the cat amended for whatever bad thing she did and managed to stop the deer-morphing process and get back to live happily in her home, now enlightened with some morality typical with children's stories.
(Just a bump!)