Review by New York Times Review
Ismail, a British illustrator with a background in animation, uses bright, beautiful brush strokes of watercolor to convey the manic, tail-wagging, mud-spattering energy that Fred, a furry black mop of a dog, brings to bedtime. Though Fred is the center of attention, Ismail adds just the right amount of decorative intensity to his surroundings: Look out for the cleverly appropriate book titles ("Woof," "A Shaggy Tale") that at last persuade this exuberant puppy to settle down for a story. IS THAT MY CAT? Written and illustrated by Jonathan Allen. 28 pp. Boxer Books. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) No slim kitty, this cat is nearly as wide as she is long, and seems to spend all day eating and sleeping. The boy who cares for her is perplexed. "My cat is a little cat who leaps in and out of the cat flap," he insists, while Allen's pictures suggest otherwise: The cat, Winnie-the-Pooh-like, gets stuck with her front half inside and her back half out. What's going on? Soon, the cat's reverted to her old svelte self, but there's a big surprise (six little ones, really) mewing in the closet. SHOE DOG By Megan McDonald. Illustrated by Katherine Tillotson. 40 pp. Richard Jackson/Atheneum. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 6) "Dog wanted a home. A real home. A place full of hundreds of nose kisses, dozens of tummy rubs." Adopted by "Herself," Dog couldn't be happier, until he is banished to the basement for chewing up shoes. In Tillotson's charcoal-and-crayon drawings, the scribbly dog's desires are at odds with his owner's elegant wardrobe. McDonald - of the Judy Moody books - knows how to tell this story from the puppy's perspective; young readers may find they share his sensibility, if not (we hope!) his habits. MATILDA'S CAT Written and illustrated by Emily Gravett. 32 pp. Simon & Schuster. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Dressed in a stripy cat suit, Matilda, who looks to be about 4, has all sorts of ideas for how to play with her similarly striped cat. But kitty turns her nose up at each activity Matilda proposes, from tree-climbing to bike-riding - even the promising prospect of fooling around with yarn. Gravett's charming pictures of the determined girl and her skeptical cat are full of funny details as the two struggle to figure out what they have in common. Could it involve napping? SPARKY! By Jenny Offill. Illustrated by Chris Appelhans. 40 pp. Schwartz & Wade. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Perhaps not everyone will see the humor in naming a sloth Sparky, but this distinctively illustrated story will amuse those who do. A lonely girl, painted in rainy-day watercolor washes of teal and brown, longs for a pet. Her mother agrees, if it "doesn't need to be walked or bathed or fed." The sloth that arrives by Express Mail spends most of his time slumped over a tree branch, but his presence brings a smile of delight to his young owner; he really is just what she wanted. ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [March 16, 2014]
Review by Booklist Review
Matilda, dressed in a ginger-striped cat costume, loves to play with her ginger-striped cat, but her poor cat doesn't like anything Matilda wants to do. Appearing in hand-scrawled, pencil-like lettering on each double-page spread is a list of things Matilda thinks her cat will enjoy: Matilda's cat likes playing with wool. But the cat hides behind the yarn basket instead of playing, so playing with wool gets scratched out. So does riding bikes, funky hats, climbing trees, and bedtime stories (though to be fair, it was a book about dogs). Eventually, after her cat has snubbed everything Matilda wants to do, she grumpily puts on her pj's to go to bed, but all is well: there's one thing the cat does like, and that's Matilda. Gravett, the creator of Again! (2013), creates big, bold drawings against clean, white backgrounds, perfect for showcasing spunky Matilda, her uncooperative cat, and their odd-couple friendship, which happily succeeds even though they have nothing in common.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Gravett's humor generally runs from giddy to Gothic; in this story, it's toward the sweeter end of the spectrum. Dressed in a cat costume, Matilda makes ambitious plans for her cat-and her cat ignores them. The text consists of pencil-scrawled lists of things that her cat "likes," which get crossed out as they fail to prove true. "Matilda's cat likes playing with wool," writes Gravett (Again!) as the cat cowers behind the yarn basket. Matilda tries stacking cardboard boxes into a playhouse ("playing with wool, boxes") and pedaling a trike ("playing with wool, boxes, and riding bikes!"); the cat leaps in the other direction. It turns out that a good cuddle is all it wants. The cumulative pile-up of failures, comic in itself, is augmented with many smaller giggles (a tea party in which Matilda gets all the treats and the cat is left with a banana). Both cat and child project a wild and humorous range of emotion, from the cat's terror at a canine shadow puppet to Matilda's perturbation that her pet would rather lick itself indecorously than participate in her best-laid plans. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-The day Matilda put on her cat suit and made mischief of one kind and another, her aloof and rather skittish feline just said, "No." Despite the child's best efforts, Matilda is unable to engage her pet in playing with wool or boxes, climbing trees, or riding bikes. After a failed tea party, drawing session, and bedtime story, the youngster takes off her cat suit and gets ready for bed and finally captures the tabby's attention. The energetic watercolor artwork is pure Gravett, with plenty of visual jokes and with characters-girl and cat-who express their feelings with every fiber of their being. For every overly exuberant youngster who has ever attempted to win the affections of a feline, this picture book offers reassurances that the friendship bond will most like occur but perhaps not on the child's timetable.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2014. 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
Matilda, wearing a tiger suit, tries to interest her cat in bike riding, drawing, tea parties, and funky hats, but the cat looks aghast at each activity. At the end of the exhausting day, Matilda and the cat, both with contented smiles, find a common interest. Generous white space puts Matilda and her cat front-and-center in each amusing, clever double-page spread. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A master of animal countenance, Gravett pairs an expressive cat with a busy kid and winks at the difference between textual and visual message. Matilda likes many things, including riding bikes, climbing trees, funky hats and fighting foes. Each spread shows Matilda playing at one thing while the text claims that her orange tabby enjoys it. "Matilda's cat likes playing with wool," it begins, as rosy-cheeked Matilda romps inside a huge, multicolored wool tangle and launches a ball of yarn toward the cat. He looks up with wide-eyed trepidation. On the next page, the words "playing with wool" are neatly crossed out and replaced by the word "boxes": The narration now admits that tabby doesn't like playing with wool but instead claims he likes Matilda's box-stacking-and-hiding game (actually he looks alarmed). This pattern continues, the text asserting and then retracting (with cross-outs) what the cat likes. A tea party dismays him, as Matilda serves him an unpeeled banana. A bedtime story causes stiff-tailed, whiskers-on-end terrorthough is it due to Matilda's storybook, Gravett's own Dogs (2010), or the large dog/wolf shadow puppet casually cast by her chubby fingers? Matilda sports a head-to-toe tabby suit, linking cat and girl all along; the shrewd and skillful art implies sly underlying affection even when the cat's nonplussed, worried or asleep. Even Matilda's cat would like this. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
