MONET'S CAT

Chika, a white ceramic cat in Claude Monet’s Giverny house, comes to life and leads the painter on a merry chase through four of his paintings.

When Monet taps the cat three times, the frolicsome feline jumps off her green pillow and enters The Luncheon. Monet clambers in after her. Taking time to sip milk from a teacup and eat some crusty bread, she saunters through the painted garden just ahead of Monet, escaping by jumping out of this bucolic scene and entering The Gare Saint-Lazare. The portly painter finds himself on the ground in this painting, searching for Chika. Kids will spot her amid the crowds, the steam, and the trains, and then find her in a train window, leaving the station. Chika and the painter visit two more paintings, The Boardwalk on the Beach at Trouville, and one of his iconic water-lily paintings.The silliness of the rather elderly White man in blue suit and straw hat climbing in and out of paintings and the cat’s amusing interactions with the painted characters and landscapes will keep readers chuckling while they get a taste of the famous French impressionist’s oeuvre. The textured brush strokes of the original oils are in evidence while the artist and his cat are rendered in looser, cartoony illustrations that stand out from the paintings. An afterword provides facts about the actual ceramic cat. For a more detailed look at the painter’s methods, read Barb Rosenstock and Mary GrandPré’s Mornings With Monet (2021). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A delightful introduction to a famous artist for young cat fanciers and art lovers alike.