Review by Booklist Review
This cautionary tale about being naughty features the prettiest kitten in the litter and the family favorite. But Chérie is very naughty: she climbs inside the piano and up the new curtains. She tears up a book and spills her water dish. When Mrs. Smith sends her to the corner, Chérie discovers a secret stairway to Little Friends Kindercare, populated by baby circus animals, all of whom are naughtier than she is. The kitten, who becomes the target of some of that naughtiness, eventually creeps back upstairs, reformed. Both text and art ring with the authority of people who know cats (except when the kitten takes a time-out in the corner). Graham's painterly illustrations, with visible, textured brushstrokes, and their focus on adorable Chérie are the book's high points. Though the message is blatant and the fantasy element preachy, preschoolers will take to cutie Chérie.--Cummins, Julie Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Little Chirie is the prettiest kitten in the litter, and the favorite of Mr. and Mrs. Smith's only daughter, Evan. But Little Chirie is always in trouble. One day, when Mrs. Smith sends her to the corner, the frisky pet finds a secret stairway that leads to "Little Friends Kindercare," where she meets a baby panda, giraffe, and monkey, among others. The animals have never seen a kitten before, and as they play with her they mimic Little Chirie's bad behavior. When she finds her way back to her house, she remembers how naughty the animals were and tempers her own actions, much to the delight of her human family. This saccharine story makes little sense. Children will immediately recognize what the unconcerned Momma Cat already knows-Little Chirie is simply a kitten and acts like one. How can attacking shoelaces or knocking over a water bowl count for being naughty? Heaven forbid the Smiths should ever encounter Rotten Ralph. The fantasy sequence where Little Chirie meets the other animals is disjointed and heavy-handed. Graham's pictures, painted in light shades and bathed in a soft glow, are too pretty for the story. Considering the exclamation points liberally sprinkled throughout the text (every naughty act is capped with that ubiquitous punctuation mark), this title reads like a vanity project from a famous author.-Kara Schaff Dean, Walpole Public Library, MA (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
After Mrs. Smith banishes naughty Cherie to a corner, the kitten squeezes through a crack and discovers a place where some baby animals are even naughtier. The book seems willfully anachronistic, with its old-fashioned prose ("'Oh, Little Cherie! What have you done?' Mrs. Smith cried") and pushy lesson-learning, but the story is somewhat engaging and the painterly illustrations usually get it right. (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
Continuing one of the more unfortunate pairings in modern picture books, Oates and Graham re-team for a third kitten-centered tale. Little Chrie's the prettiest of Momma Cat's kittens and Evan's favorite, but she causes the most trouble. When her owner sits Little Chrie in a corner for being bad, the grey tabby escapes to "Little Friends Kindercare" a circus big top of baby zoo animals whose naughtiness teaches Little Chrie to be good. Knowing Oates's award-winning work for older audiences, readers might interpret the precious prose and overreliance on exclamation points to be an avant garde literary experiment. Would that it were. Graham's somber, sentimental art works against the sugary, upbeat text. Little Chrie walks into the Kindercare and thinks, "What a strange, happy place!" The full-bleed, two-page spread shows small, realistically rendered animals in a soft blue-and-grey open space with five tiny balloons. Even lovers of the sweet-kitten genre will be better served with an extra copy of Jane Cabrera's Kitty's Cuddles (April 2007). (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
