Review by Booklist Review
Georgie, a cheery gray tabby cat, is an expert party planner. He especially understands the importance of comprehensive to-do lists (first item: Make list), layer cakes, festive caps, and personal invitations. One morning he wakes, determined to throw the perfect party. But as he strolls the city streets attempting to invite his favorite neighborhood friends, he quickly becomes increasingly discouraged. Go-to party pal Feta, a lanky chocolate brown pup, is preoccupied making pickles, bucktoothed mouse Lester is stuck changing light bulbs, and Ferdinand the mole is more than content unwinding in his underground lair. While the white backdrop of most pages accentuates Chan's infectious and colorful cast of excuse-riddled animals from an itchy-eared rabbit and disoriented sloth to a purple hippo whose shorts are just too bright dusky spreads later on help emphasize Georgie's eventual, if short-lived, disappointment. Ultimately, both parents and children will delight in characters' quirky one-liners and the surprise ending the greatest party of all. A tale of generosity and friendship best paired with cake, of course.--Shemroske, Briana Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In her first picture book, Chan introduces a cat named Georgie (inspired by her own cat), who believes that "there was nothing better in the world than throwing a party for his friends." But after Georgie buys a cake and goes door to door in his Brooklynesque neighborhood to invite his friends over, he's met with a string of polite, and sometimes bizarre, excuses. "I have to make my pickles," says Feta the dog, clutching a jar of brine and looking more than a little guilty. "I can't. My shorts are too bright," says a hippo a few pages later. With each rejection, the cake Georgie carries gets smaller and smaller, but as he makes his way home, most readers will suspect that he won't be entering an empty house. Chan's ink-and-watercolor illustrations are full of playful details to enjoy (including a cameo by a certain polka-dotted elephant that fans of Mike Curato's books may recognize), and her animals' anxious expressions and lumpy-lanky bodies create a cast of friends who can be idiosyncratic and insecure, yet are confident to be themselves. Ages 3-6. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Horn Book Review
Cat Georgie decides to throw a party for his animal friends, but all give (hilariously) flimsy reasons why they can't attend ("My shorts are too bright," etc.); it turns out they're secretly planning to throw him a party. The book is even more delightful the second time through: readers will spot the friends' party planning and Georgie's cake slowly disappearing in the meticulous illustrations. (c) Copyright 2017. 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
Georgie the cat is eager to throw a partybut none of his friends can come! Bummer. Georgie, a true party animal, wakes up with "the best of best ideas" and rushes out to buy a cake and make the rounds of his friends to deliver invitations. Butfloppy-eared Feta the dog ("his go-to party pal") is too busy making pickles, Lester the rat is in the middle of untangling a string of lights, shy Ferdinand the mole feels like staying in his storm drain, and all of Georgie's other animal friends present similarly weak excuses. In simply drawn cartoon illustrations, Chan tracks her increasingly discouraged kitty through a long day that dims into night. By the time the streetlights come on he is out of friends (and, being a nibbler, also out of cake) and so wanders wearily hometo a big, bright, joyous "SURPRISE!" that his friends had been preparing all along. The story is slight, repetitious, and predictable, but Georgie is pretty doggone adorable, and Chan makes up for its narrative simplicity with plenty to look at, playing with perspective and lighting to emphasize Georgie's increasing dejection. Not likely to be much of a surprise even for diapered cake eaters, but this uncomplicated, feel-good debut is definitely a charmer. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
