Bright-color folk illustrations add zest and bounce to this tale told in many countries. Mouse, who lives with cat, is always busy cooking or sewing. This day, she makes 35 pies and the cat swallows them up, declaring, “I may be FAT, but I’m still a HUNGRY CAT!” Out the door he goes, saying, “Oh, I’m meow, meow FAT! ’Cause I’m a HUNGRY, HUNGRY CAT!” He meets in succession a washerwoman with her washtub, a company of soldiers brandishing swords, and a King on an elephant. Each of them exclaims “My, CAT! You sure are FAT!” to which the cat replies, “I may be FAT but I’m still a HUNGRY CAT!” and SLIP SLOP SLUURP! Cat swallows them down. “BURP!” When he arrives home, he eats his friend, the mouse, who happens to be sewing. She snips her way to freedom and orders, “Everybody OUT!” Because they are friends, she spends the day sewing up Cat’s tummy. “Oh, I’m meow meow FLAT! ’Cause I’m an EMPTY EMPTY CAT!” says the cat. The tale ends: “And now, whenever folks meet Cat they are careful to speak with respect.” The story will be a favorite read aloud and simply demands that listeners shout along. Plenty of white space sets off the pictures and heightens the art. There are, indeed, 35 pies depicted on a double page spread and the green-vested golden cat becomes satisfyingly huge as he swallows each person with their accoutrements. As expected from this scholarly storyteller (The Storyteller’s Sourcebook, etc.) there is a note identifying the motif of the tale and citing other variants. (Folktale. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-87483-616-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: August House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
Pedestrian.
Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.
Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
The can’t-miss subject of this Step into Reading series entry—a unicorn with a magic horn who also longs for wings—trumps its text, which is dry even by easy-reader standards. A boy unicorn, whose horn has healing powers, reveals his wish to a butterfly in a castle garden, a bluebird in the forest and a snowy white swan in a pond. Falling asleep at the edge of the sea, the unicorn is visited by a winged white mare. He heals her broken wing and she flies away. After sadly invoking his wish once more, he sees his reflection: “He had big white wings!” He flies off after the mare, because he “wanted to say, ‘Thank you.’ ” Perfectly suiting this confection, Silin-Palmer’s pictures teem with the mass market–fueled iconography of what little girls are (ostensibly) made of: rainbows, flowers, twinkly stars and, of course, manes down to there. (Easy reader. 4-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83117-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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