Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Spot the cat? If you can! Frankly, Spot is not that easy to find in this wordless picture book by veteran Cole. And that's what makes this so frustratingly fun. The book begins with a one-spotted cat looking at a bird outside the living room window while his young owner reads. Turn the page and the spread shows an incredibly detailed street of brownstones and shops, with people, plants, and pets peeking out of windows as dog-owners and bikers bustle by. The rest of the story is simple: Spot gets caught up in city life, moving from park to museum to train station. When the boy realizes Spot is missing, he prints out fliers and heads out to find him, but is usually a step or two behind. Cole's pencil-and-ink crosshatch artwork is an intricate marvel, and even after readers have found Spot, there are plenty of other stories to see in these pages, or kids can use the goings-on as a jumping off place for stories of their own. One caveat: the flap copy says that Spot can be found on each page, but this isn't true on pages featuring the boy, unless you count the cat's face on the fliers. As for that detailed first spread? Well, we are still looking. Darn cat.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Spot is a light-colored cat with a dark oval on his side, and he plays a lighthearted game of hide-and-seek in this wordless frolic. Cole (A Nest for Celeste) nestles the action in a picturesque, British-looking town, drawn in fine black line. The story begins with the boy reading on a sofa, with Spot perched above. After Spot dashes to the outside ledge, the perspective shifts to a panoramic exterior view of the apartment window, situated in a line of brick rowhouses and overlooking parked vehicles and passersby. By the time the boy checks on Spot, the cat has wandered away. Readers scan the pages for Spot, who patters along a quaint stone bridge, gallivants down a park's cobblestone path, and picks his way across apple crates at the farmers' market. The spreads yield glimpses of both runaway cat and pursuing boy, while unframed panels show the boy posting "lost cat" flyers. Cole loads his postcard-perfect scenes with dense detail, and his stippling and crosshatching increase the difficulty of spotting Spot. An idle-weekend ambience prevails: Spot never seems in danger and finds his own way home. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-While a young boy is reading a book, his small black-and-white cat, appropriately named Spot, jumps through the window after a bird and sets off on an urban adventure. Each spread of this wordless seek and find-style tale shows the fearless feline wandering further away from its home, venturing down the street to a river embankment, through a park, into an outdoor market, and past a museum, all while its despondent owner looks for it. Finally, as the boy gives up and returns home, the cat comes back as well and the two are happily reunited. Cole's black-and-white illustrations, laid out in mostly spreads and vignettes, overflow with delightful details (such as numerous other cats and dogs), which enrich the story but make finding the tiny spotted protagonist incredibly challenging. VERDICT Sharp-eyed readers will enjoy looking for the little cat and undoubtedly root for its safe return home.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY © Copyright 2016. 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
This wordless, oversized, and, save for the cover and endpapers, solely black-and-white picture book follows a cat who escapes out of an open apartment window and subsequently explores its compact, attractive city -- all the while sought by its worried owner, a small, shock-headed boy. Each double-page spread is a marvel of (pen-and-ink crosshatched) detail, but this is no Wheres Waldo: the boy is practically invisible in his plain clothing and unremarkable appearance, and the cat, though it does feature a distinctive spot on its side, wanders a city with a fair number of semi-lookalikes. Viewers will need time and patience to find boy and cat on each spread. Fortunately, the locations (streetscapes, a park full of kites, a farmers market, a train station, a canal lined with fishermen, the steps of an art museum) are teeming with activity and interactions and objects of interest; the rewards of each page are greater than simply locating searcher and searchee. At books end Cole refocuses our attention on the boys distress at the loss of his cat, so that their ultimate reunion has an emotional impact. A paean, simultaneously, to the joys of city life, small adventures, and human/pet devotion. martha v. parravano (c) Copyright 2016. 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
Spot, the cat, slinks out an open window and pads through a bustling village, with its concerned owner, a white-skinned child with tousled black hair, trailing behind. Readers, like the child, scan teeming city scenes with furrowed brows, searching for Spot (homing in on the distinctive "beauty mark" on its flank) amid lively quotidian action. Exhaustively detailed black-and-white ink illustrations make investigating the wordless spreads both a challenge and a joy. Fur, fabric, brickwork, rooftops, blades of grass, kite tassels, hubcaps, and street signs all receive such granular treatment they cohere into richly wrought panoramas. They echo with car horns, bursts of laughter, bird calls, dog barks, fountain burbles, and the reassuring murmur of myriad conversations, quibbles, and songs. Spot streams through the lower latitudes of all this activity, as does the child, who misses spotting the cat time and time again. Hearts drop. Finding the feline is tricky for readers too, as the artist inserts many red herrings. Other cats, dogs, and furry creatures and other spots surface here and there, sending alternating rushes of excitement and urgency. When child and cat finally reunite, the sweet relief feels immediate and intimateand all that looking so very much worth it. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
