OH NO! LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN

Grandma’s black cat collects some dreadful stuff.

The sibling protagonists say they like to stay with their grandmother…but her cat drags all things gross and frightful through the flap each night of the week. On Monday, there are bugs crawling all over the kitchen, as well as a hedgehog and an enormous, possibly dead, rat; Grandma is not pleased. “When we woke up on Tuesday, / got dressed and ran downstairs, / we found our troubled grandma tearing out her hair.” Now the cat’s brought in a bat, mice, lizards, ants, and some stranger’s underwear! On Wednesday when the kids come down, Grandma is “pointing at the kitchen and looking very grim. / ‘OH NO NO NO!’ she cried. / ‘Look what the CAT dragged in.’ ” Snakes, spiders, maggots, possibly dead birds, and a cheesed-off weasel—as well as a stranger’s laundry—have been added to the pile. On Saturday, the kids are just too scared to go into the kitchen, but Sunday brings a surprise: All is clean and normal….Grandma’s nailed up the cat flap and vowed the cat would stay in at night. Published in New Zealand in 2018, Davidson’s syncopated story of feline sneakiness will delight the youngest gross-out–loving crowd. The rhymed text almost begs to be sung, and Cooper’s exaggerated cartoon illustrations are expressive, silly, and satisfyingly ookie. The family presents white, and, refreshingly, this grandma is not gray-haired.

This week’s worth of yucky, rhyming fun (and giggles) is a pleaser.