BUD AND GABBY

Bud is a huge orange cat; Gabby is a small black-and-white one. Bud knows he’s the bossy one. Although they spend most of their time reading, watching bugs and napping together, Bud sometimes finds Gabby annoying. Then Gabby gets sick. Bud knows it’s serious when the box comes out. Gabby is taken to the vet, and Bud doesn’t know what to do with himself. He over-grooms and gets a hairball. He thinks of her constantly, enumerating her good qualities, until she returns. She smells like medicine, but he’s happy things are back to normal. Greeting-card artist Davis’s first foray into picture books is a sweet, silly story of two slightly anthropomorphized cats. The art, like that of her line of cards, is bold of color and expressive without being too cartoonish. Children who have cats will recognize their pets, and children who have sick siblings or who are afraid of visiting the doctor themselves might have some of their fears allayed after listening to this friendly story. (Picture book. 2-6)