GOODNIGHT, RAINBOW CATS

As a bevy of colored cats arrive one by one, small die-cut windows burst into color.

In this Catalonian import, a simply outlined white house waits for a prismatic collection of feline friends to return home. On the verso, readers meet and glimpse the cat that’s heading indoors; with a page turn, that cat disappears and another brightly colored die-cut window illuminates, letting readers know that kitty has made it safely inside. Using a soothing conversational tone that’s ideal for bedtime reading, the omniscient narrator cozily describes the domestic scene that awaits each cat—Little Brown Cat, for instance, returns “to a big warm bed in the big white house!”—before bidding each goodnight. It all culminates in a snuggly final page showing the kitties all bedded down. Each cat is introduced with a colored typeset, helping children predict what color window will appear next, and the cat’s names vary, with both basic monikers like Little Pink Cat and those with pizzazz, like Little Lime-Green Cat, allowing the text to be predictable without feeling formulaic. Ironically, the roughly silhouetted cats are the weakest part of the book, and the rainbow colors are somewhat muddied, though they’re still striking in the windows. Made of durable cardboard, the die-cut pages are sturdy and will hold up to enthusiastic fingers.

Eclectic and effective—this board book is the cat’s meow.