Suzy, a little striped cat, lives with a fisherman and his four sons in France. One day, she unknowingly falls asleep in a basket that’s part of a hot-air balloon and ends up in England. The crux of the story is her effort to return to “Chez-moi.” Even though an old lady takes her in, Suzy grabs every opportunity (she thinks) to find a way home: She rides a surfboard, swims beside a channel swimmer, gets stranded on a submarine and pussyfoots aboard a ferry boat to France. When she climbs the boat’s mast, she sees a French fishing boat ahead—with her family aboard! Home at last. Brush strokes on the canvas background of the soft-edged illustrations add texture to the gentle, sweet quality, while the action scenes humorously depict Suzy’s encounters, but overall they lack the buoyancy of Mary Calhoun’s Hot-Air Henry (1981). (Picture book. 4-7)
