Cat’s adventures don’t qualify as a catastrophe, but neither are they particularly compelling.
An anthropomorphic cat learns about fashion and finds success as a dancer before opening her own Parisian club for cats.
Born “in a narrow, smelly alleyway,” Cat’s origins are squalid at best. Nonetheless she is brimming with self-confidence. Still, her first foray into the performing arts does not go well. Kicked out of a cafe for “caterwauling,” she retreats to a cozy spot in a seamstress’s studio, where she begins creating fanciful clothing. A visit to a nightclub results in a gig co-starring with Josephine Baker and her cheetah. Missing her large family, Cat decides to head home to establish Madame Kitty’s Catacombs Club. The name is one of several feline-oriented puns found sprinkled throughout the text. These puns combine with the sophisticated vocabulary and casual inclusion of legendary artists Edith Piaf and Baker to create an archly adult tone that may limit appeal. Some internal rhymes and occasional alliteration are pleasing but can’t quite compensate for the overlong, overstuffed text. Grobler’s scratchy, atmospheric illustrations, vaguely reminiscent of Maira Kalman’s artwork, offer exaggerated outlines and intriguing textures. The inclusion of vignettes, single-page pictures, and double-page spreads adds interest and helps to move the (somewhat clunky) plot along. An author’s note briskly outlines the lives of Piaf and Baker while endpapers feature an idiosyncratic map of Paris that features pertinent locations and a few landmarks. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 90% of actual size.)
Cat’s adventures don’t qualify as a catastrophe, but neither are they particularly compelling. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-910328-62-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiny Owl
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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