Young readers won’t need to know the story’s literary origins, they’ll just enjoy the romp of a conniving cat.
Here’s another rerun from T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
“Macavity: The Mystery Cat” is perhaps one of the best-loved poems from the Eliot collection, and Robins has infused new life into the trickster cat. The comical, full- or double-page illustrations are as frisky as Macavity, often showing just his tail as he disappears off the page after one of his sly antics. The hand-lettered look of the text adds to the sprightliness of the scenes. The text’s rich vocabulary makes for some challenges. “Macavity, Macavity, / there’s no one like Macavity, / for he’s a fiend in feline shape, / a monster of depravity.” Here, the cat’s fiendishness is obvious, as he holds a frantic mouse by the tale as it desperately tries to escape; his “depravity” is indicated on the facing page, as he lures a passel of pigeons with dropped bread crumbs to an unspecified end. The timing of the publication is smart, celebrating the 75th-anniversary edition of the original book and a Broadway return of the musical Cats in July. Two other individual picture-book poems from the anthology are scheduled for later 2016 release: Mr.Mistoffelees and Skimbleshanks, also illustrated by Robins.
Young readers won’t need to know the story’s literary origins, they’ll just enjoy the romp of a conniving cat. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-571-31212-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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