My cat, the silliest cat in the world

Gilles Bachelet

Book - 2006

An artist describes his "cat," who can usually be found either sleeping or eating.

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Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room jE/Bachelet Due Apr 13, 2024
Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
New York : Abrams Books for Young Readers 2006.
Language
English
Main Author
Gilles Bachelet (-)
Physical Description
unpaged : col. ill. ; 28 x 31 cm
ISBN
9780810949133
9781415664100
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

PreS-Gr. 2. In this handsomely illustrated offering, a cat owner describes his pet's daily routines and favorite things. The joke is that although the text says cat, the pictures show elephant. Thus, an elephant appears doing all sorts of cat things, including sleeping on the TV, rolling on its back, and using (and missing) the litter box. Bachelet, the creator of this whimsical French import, is at his best as he captures the elephant in a variety of cat poses: stretching, curling up, and not quite landing on its feet. A closing page, featuring elephants with cat markings such as calico, Persian, Siamese, tiger, and leopard is particularly amusing, as is a page featuring hilariously altered reproductions of famous paintings, all featuring elephants. A fun choice for storytimes or one-on-one sharing. --Todd Morning Copyright 2006 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

It's a ridiculous proposition, that a man could mistake an elephant for a cat. But French author/artist Bachelet, with droll pen-and-ink illustrations and Gallic wit, pursues the idea's side-splitting implications to their logical end. "My cat is very fat, very sweet, and very, very silly," the narrative begins, in what sounds like the usual oafish opening to a second-rate memoir. But the opening image of a sad-eyed elephant jammed uncomfortably into a tiny cat basket is sure to garner a laugh from the get-go. Nimbly drafted vignettes depict the pet curled up on top of the television with his hairy, bony tail hanging down over the weather map. As if the pictures of the elephant in the litter box and the crabby reply to the Natural History museum defending his portrait of his pet's skeleton were not enough, Bachelet launches into a magnificent series of art parodies, with his beloved elephant-sorry, cat-rendered as if by Ingres, Matisse and a host of other world-renowned painters. Since readers definitely won't be able to have a cat like this in their homes, they had better run out and get this book instead. Ages 4-8. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-A wonderfully humorous look at the life of a feline that looks suspiciously like an elephant, right down to its big floppy ears, long trunk, and impressive size. This is a suspicion not shared by the author/illustrator, who lovingly describes his "cat's" eating and sleeping habits, cleanliness, love of other animals, and inability to land on its feet. Each page features a one-sentence statement about the "cat" paired with its depiction. It is impossible not to giggle at the silliness of an elephant cleaning itself with its tongue or playing with a ball of yarn. The detailed illustrations show a creature behaving exactly like a cat in actions and expressions but in a completely new and surprising way. This book is perfect for storytime-but be prepared for howls of "That's not a cat!!!" and potentially out-of-control laughter.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

(Primary) Reading only the text, one would find this to be a completely conventional list of a cat's habits, from the way kitties alternate sleeping and eating, to their frenzied play, to their habit of accidentally missing the litter box. The very, very large cat in the pictures, however, has a long trunk, big flappy ears, tusks, and a skinny tail with a tuft of hair at the end and is, in fact, an elephant. The straight-faced humor becomes all the funnier because Bachelet captures a cat's peculiar postures and behavior exactly, only it's an elephant licking the underside of its leg or sleeping on top of a television with its tail dangling in front of the screen. One page shows the ""cat"" with the markings of many different cat breeds-a tabby-striped elephant, a Siamese elephant with darker coloration at the bottom and beautiful blue eyes, and so on. The paintings, outlined in black ink on large white pages, are filled with visual wit and will please cat lovers, elephant lovers, and especially children, who love being in on a joke. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

"My cat is very fat, very sweet, and very, very silly." A peculiar cat indeed with saggy grey skin, tusks and a very long nose. The author's cat mostly eats and sleeps with sporadic bursts of energetic frenzy. His cat is clean like all cats, but doesn't always land on its feet (with disastrous consequences). A friend gave the author a book on cats, but strangely he couldn't find his cat's breed anywhere within. French graphic artist and teacher Bachelet has crafted a fabulously ridiculous spoof; the watercolor spot illustrations of an elephant doing normal cat things (including using the litter box) are a stitch. The page on which the author's unsold paintings of his cat insert the "cat" into Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, and great works by Picasso, Mir¿ and Mondrian, among others, will have adults giggling too. The ending feels a bit abrupt, but that shouldn't keep libraries from adding this to their collection of elephant--er, cat--storytime offerings. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.