Up cat, down cat

Toddler-PreS--Light (Black Bird Yellow Sun) has delivered another gem. This work explores the world of opposites through the lives of two cats. Simple text--one word on each page--allows for the illustrations to tell the true story. A blue mouse entertains two cats, one black and the other white. However, that is just the beginning of the concept exploration as the story goes on to show long and short, as one cat lays stretched out and the other curled in a ball. The story goes on to show lost vs. found as one cat is hiding and the other is not; straight vs. curvy with respect to the cats' tails; wet vs. dry in the bathtub, until it ends with the cats awake and asleep. This is a nuanced look at opposites, as it explores more challenging ideas than just up and down or black and white. The use of ink drawings that are simplistic yet colorful enhance the story by allowing for the concept to be easily recognizable to young readers but also allowing for further explanation for older children. VERDICT: With such eye-catching illustrations, this is a recommended addition to board book collections.--Kristen Todd-Wurm, Middle Country Public Library, NY

A pair of coy cats cleverly demonstrates various binary opposites. Rarely are toddlers treated to such a refined concept board book, as two sleek cats, one black and one white, evocatively act out eight different sets of opposites. These are not darling cartoon cats; rather they are charismatic felines whose bodies slink and perch and lounge about, as when the white cat stretches its sinuous body out "long" while the black cat simultaneously curls into a "short," compact ball. Efficiently covering oft-seen concepts like wet and dry (with one poor damp kitty and one dry, suspicious one) or awake and asleep, the book also veers into some lesser-seen sets, such as straight/curvy, with one cat tail hanging languidly and the other loopy and twitching. Lost/found, however, may not be so easy for toddlers to parse. Atmospheric multimedia art combines earthy linoprint backgrounds and collaged cats into a modern, toddler-friendly version of the famous Le Chat Noir poster, especially with its strikingly neutral cats placed against the boldly colored backgrounds. Within the cosmopolitan art, there are child-friendly elements and humor, like the ubiquitous small blue mouse toy that begs to be found or the naughty white cat calmly knocking a vase from a shelf or begging pathetically for the black cat's dinner. Hello kitty! Don't miss this playful yet urbane combination of concept book and art book. (Board book. 1-3) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.