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NO SNOWBALL! by Isabella Kung

NO SNOWBALL!

by Isabella Kung ; illustrated by Isabella Kung

Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-56546-1
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic

The regal protagonist of No Fuzzball (2020) deals with an adorable interloper.

Black-furred, fluffy feline NoFuzzball is happy in her queendom with her three human subjects chanting her name to worship her. (They are, of course, telling her to stop whatever mischief she is up to, like riding the Roomba.) Her subjects have a surprise for her, though: a little sister. A tiny, white furball of a kitten pops out of a box, saying to NoFuzzball, “Hi, I love you! Who are you?” She’s pretty clueless, and at first NoFuzzball wants nothing to do with her. When the newcomer proves her usefulness with a sneak attack on the canine subject, however, NoFuzzball decides to train her up as a princess. Grooming lessons, stealth lessons, even shredding lessons don’t seem to go well—but suddenly, as the little kitten climbs the curtains, the subjects start chanting, “NoSnowball!” NoFuzzball has her princess, and they agree to rule together. Kung follows up her tale of queenly kitty confusion with the inevitable new-sibling story. Her watercolor and gouache illustrations of a family and their wide-eyed, endearing pets are a perfect match (and mismatch) for the tale’s action—hilariously, NoFuzzball’s interpretation of events is sometimes at odds with what is depicted in the artwork. One of the parents in the family is tan-skinned, the other is lighter-skinned, and the child is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

As furry and funny as the first.

(Picture book. 2-7)