A well-directed description of the real responsibilities—and joys—of adopting a cat.
Two children demonstrate the responsibilities of a caring for new kitten in this rhyming picture book.
Following their previous collaboration, What to Know Before You Get Your Dog (2021), Strohmaier and Gadotti prepare young readers for adopting a pet. Two siblings—a taller one with blond hair and peachy skin and a smaller one with black hair and tan skin—walk together to a pet rescue. They play with several kittens and observe their behaviors before bringing home a brown and tan tabby. As the children play with and care for their new pet, the narrator describes a cat’s needs: “You’ll have to learn just how / to scoop the litter tray. / Since kitty likes it clean, / you’ll do that every day!” The book celebrates the delight of cat ownership without skipping over the more challenging aspects, and the simple language and short rhyming phrases make the advice accessible to younger readers, encouraging them to really consider their own readiness to care for an animal. Gadotti’s watercolor and pencil illustrations tell the story, as the characters and their new pet are never directly mentioned in the text. While the book is instructive—depicting the necessary equipment and chores—the main characters still show a great deal of personality when, for example, hanging upside-down from a bed to watch their kitten or turning up their nose at the litterbox.
A well-directed description of the real responsibilities—and joys—of adopting a cat.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781736999530
Page Count: 39
Publisher: Lion Face Press
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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