Cat Nap

Reviewed by: Deidre Walsh - Goodall Memorial Library, Sanford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: June 22, 2016

Review

It's 12:00 noon and all Cat wants to do is take a nap by himself. All Kitten wants to do is play with Cat. The rest of the book shows cat doing everything he can think of to ditch Kitten. But Kitten will not be put off that easily. The illustrations are done in, what appear to be acrylics & ink. Most are double spreads. They are bold & simple, showing just the right amount of detail for the story. The colors are mainly blues, browns, black & white, with a splash of red strategically placed here and there. The illustrations also carry the text nicely. You can see the happy & playful expressions on the Kitten and the look of frustration & the desire to be left alone on the face of the Cat. There is only one or two sentences per page and the illustrations match each time. The text is clear, simple & easy to read. With the simple and direct sentence structure & minimal text per page this would make a good early reader for kindergarten & first grade. It would also be wonderful for a cat-themed story time, one on one reading or even at bedtime. In a pre-K & Kindergarten classroom, it would be useful as a story time to introduce the concept of opposites. For story time settings the book is a bit small, but the size & boldness of the illustrations more than make up for that. The only weakness I can find in this, and I had to really stretch for it, is on the 6th page of the story where the Kitten is sitting on the Cat's head. The Kitten's mouth looks like it is broken & just hanging there. I think it is just a part of the illustrators style (not always connecting lines). But still, in this particular instance it was a bit creepy for me. Otherwise, this is a must purchase for all libraries. It is fun, engaging & the perfect package for story and cat lovers.

Overall Book Score: excellent