A happy romp for terpsichorean cat lovers.
A feline and his girl become a dancing duo.
Mandy loves to perform jazzy moves for her cat, Rupert, who only watches in return. But when Mandy is asleep, Rupert puts on Mandy’s dance shoes and performs for himself. “Dancing was Rupert’s secret!” Keeping that secret is of paramount importance. Alas, Mandy awakens to see what she is not ever supposed to see, and Rupert hides under the bed, steadfastly refusing to come out. Mandy tries to entice him by demonstrating steps, but Rupert, like all cats, is “not meant for lessons. Cats are free spirits.” Finally, Mandy devises a plan that involves reverse psychology, meant to work on recalcitrant children—oops—cats, and a lasting partnership is the happy result. Feiffer has crafted an engaging tale of friendship, dance and cat psychology. The text appears on each page as captions under and alongside each drawing—it’s almost a graphic-novel format, minus the panels. The free-form illustrations, done in bright strokes of black, ginger, pinks and greens, swirl gracefully about the pages and pop off the white backgrounds.
A happy romp for terpsichorean cat lovers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-36363-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Michael di Capua/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
IN THE NEWS
Overlooking (again) the association of Chinese names with a tired joke, this may put a few first-day fears to rest, and it...
Gaiman continues his sneeze pun in this look at a worried panda cub’s first day of school.
Chu’s expressed school worries are limited to “What will happen?” “Will they be nice?” and “Will they like me?” though the new student’s concerns (and his posture and facial expressions) will be familiar to any child facing school for the first time. Chu’s new teacher has a “friendly face,” and his animal classmates—ranging from a rhino and a giraffe down to a crab, a snake and a snail—all seem nice. The first activity the class does is to sit in a circle and tell their new friends their names and what they love to do best; the teacher writes their names on the chalkboard. (Fans of Chu’s Day will see the punch line coming.) Their talents and things they love are wide-ranging—climbing trees, singing, reading books—but none is as unusual as Chu’s. After two wordless double-page spreads depicting both the post-sneeze surprise and destruction and subsequent recovery and delight, Chu drolly says, “That’s what I do.” Rex’s oil-and–mixed-media illustrations capture the complex feelings that accompany the first day of school, and Chu is believable when he tells his parents, “I’m not worried anymore.”
Overlooking (again) the association of Chinese names with a tired joke, this may put a few first-day fears to rest, and it will probably also cause some tension-relieving laughter. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-222397-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
Fred has certainly matured since his first outing. Readers may have mixed feelings about a third, though.
The untrained, exuberant dog and his patient child owner from I Will Love You Anyway (2016) are back, this time exploring the meaning of a name.
The puglike dog with the huge eyes, sweat bands, and tendency to run away has earned a ribbon from his dog obedience class. The pup now responds appropriately to “Fetch,” “Sit,” and “Stay” and knows “Ball,” “Walk,” “Park,” and “Bed.” But the meaning of the word “Fred” eludes him, the adorable tilt of his head conveying his confusion. Eager to please, the dog just wants to know how to “Fred” so he’ll earn a “Good Boy!” Maybe the dog upstairs (his reflection in a mirror) knows? What about the dog he spies in the water while chasing ducks in the park? Trying to play with that pup leads him to trouble. Luckily, his child comes to his rescue, snuggling the dog close and whispering his name. “A light goes on inside my head!” Fred’s his name, and he can now Fred with the best of them. A cozy ending celebrates the love between dog and child. While Mick Inkpen’s rhymes sometime belabor the point and nearly overstay their welcome, Chloë Inkpen’s illustrations against white backgrounds give readers a view from the dog’s perspective, and his expressions and body language convey much. Fred’s child, the only human in the book, presents white.
Fred has certainly matured since his first outing. Readers may have mixed feelings about a third, though. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1475-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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