TAMA & BABY

A patient kitty adjusts to an infant’s arrival.

“A baby has come to Tama’s house. Tama has never seen a baby before.” Like most siblings, the spotted cat and spirited youngster have the occasional spat, but they form a quick and inseparable union as the baby grows. Omniscient narration allows readers to experience the disruption of and adjustment to a new addition to a household from the feline’s perspective—a welcome shift from the many dog books about changing family dynamics. Perpetually rosy cheeks on the black-haired child, whose skin is the white of the page, parallel the red bow around Tama’s neck, while noises from the pair (the “shff shff” of Tama creeping across a floor and Baby’s coos of “ah ah” from her crib) appear in tiny red print. Similar to the illustrations in Doi’s beloved Chirri & Chirra series, the minimalist spot art and clean design create a pared-down aesthetic that suits the story’s graceful text, translated from Japanese. Images with an appearance of colored pencil and graphite sit tidily on vast white pages, each vignette showcasing the passage of time while well-paced page turns warmly capture the bloom of affection between the titular characters.

A simple and sweet sibling tale.