I WON'T EAT THAT

A finicky cat searches for a meal to satisfy its hunger in this darkly humorous tale.

A marmalade cat turns its nose up to cat food and asks other animals what they eat in order to find its next meal. Each animal’s food of choice, however, seems unappetizing to the cat. Turtle’s wiggly worms, Fox’s bouncy rabbits, Chimp’s biting ants, and Elephant’s dry grass, among other choices, meet with Cat’s disdain. The text follows a cumulative pattern that has Cat listing all of the reasons it rejects others’ foods as it approaches each successive animal. When naïve Mouse arrives on the scene, however, Cat perks up when it asks, “What does a cat eat?” The conclusion of the book doesn’t definitively show Mouse’s probable, sad fate, but a final spread depicts Cat ready to pounce on a wide-eyed Mouse, and closing endpapers show Mouse scurrying away through what seems to be scattered, rejected cat food. Throughout, mixed-media illustrations are eye-catching and expressive with bold, large forms set against spare backgrounds, making the book a sure bet for storytime success with large groups.

You will read this (and reread it, too).