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
An entertaining, if light, addition to the growing shelf of celebrity-authored picture books.
Actor and author Witherspoon makes her picture-book debut.
Betty, a light-skinned, bespectacled child with blond pigtails, was born busy. Constantly in motion, Betty builds big block towers, cartwheels around the house (underfoot, of course), and plays with the family’s “fantabulous” dog, Frank, who is stinky and dirty. That leads to a big, busy, bright idea that, predictably, caroms toward calamity yet drags along enough hilarity to be entertaining. With a little help from best friend Mae (light-skinned with dark hair), the catastrophe turns into a lucrative dog-washing business. Busy Betty is once again ready to rush off to the next big thing. Yan uses vivid, pastel colors for a spread of a group of diverse kids bringing their dogs to be washed, helping out, and having fun, while the grown-ups are muted and relegated to the background. Extreme angles in several of the illustrations effectively convey a sense of perpetual motion and heighten the story’s tension, drawing readers in. An especially effective, glitter-strewn spread portrays Frank looming large and seemingly running off the page while Betty looks on, stricken at the ensuing mess. Though it’s a familiar and easily resolved story, Witherspoon’s rollicking text never holds back, replete with amusing phrases such as “sweet cinnamon biscuits,” “bouncing biscuits,” and “busted biscuits.” As Betty says, “Being busy is a great way to be.” Young readers are sure to agree. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An entertaining, if light, addition to the growing shelf of celebrity-authored picture books. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-46588-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A traditional cumulative tale, which Aylesworth (My Sister's Rusty Bike, 1996, etc.) endows with a lively pace, is illustrated in a decidedly old-fashioned style, giving the book the look and feel of a reproduction of an old edition. Working with precise pen-and-ink, McClintock portrays the cozy home of an elderly couple, dressed in Victoriana and in possession of a great wood-burning stove. Her work has never been more animated than in the scenes of the two-dimensional gingerbread man running away, exuberantly eluding everyone elsethe couple, a butcher, and a cow and pig dressed in human clothesuntil he is devoured by a fox. The portrayals of a cow and pig are more bizarre than charming, and the too-obvious wrinkles on the elderly people's faces are one example of eccentric choices on the part of the illustrator.With Richard Egielski's The Gingerbread Boy (1997) hot off the press and other fine variations of the tale still in print, it's hard to make the case for this one, other than to appreciate its antique look. (Picture book/folklore. 4-6)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-590-97219-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1998
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