Product Description

So, what's it like to be a cat?

I'm very glad you asked me that.

Are cats afraid of the dark? Where do they prefer to sleep? What time do cats eat their breakfast? And what do they really think of dogs (and people!)? The award-winning team of Karla Kuskin and Betsy Lewin explore the secret inner lives of felines in this beguiling question-and-answer interview between an intrepid child and a very clever cat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #579411 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 40 pages

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 3–Two award winners team up to explore playfully the essence of being a cat. The framework of an interview between a boy and a feline allows for a series of skillfully constructed calls and responses. For example, the youngster asks, Do you have a kitty bed/with your picture at the head? and his subject replies, I do not have a kitty bed/to rest my kitty tail and head./I'd rather/sleep most anywhere/that's warm and soft:/a couch,/a chair,/a sleeping loft;/I'll curl up there. Within strong black lines, the loosely composed watercolor cartoons perfectly capture the range of expressions, postures, and mischievous ways of cats. The illustrations are set against crisp white backgrounds and each page offers a diverse layout that enhances the cadence of the poem. This inextricable interplay of art and text works harmoniously to provide a delightful portrait of the capricious nature of felines. A great choice for reading aloud.–Caroline Ward, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 2. Pencil in hand, a boy interviews his gray cat, beginning with the question in the title. Seated in a director's chair, the rangy feline answers with the easy, false modesty of a celebrity: "Cats are private creatures / who are happier when left alone. Of course I trust / and also wish / no one forgets to fill my dish / (a bit of fish might be delish)." The cat proudly acknowledges that although humans have a few things going for them ("They balance nicely on their feet"), they don't "nap or leap or lie / as gracefully or well / as I." Lewin's charming, uncluttered watercolors extend the spare poetry's precise wit with swooping bold lines that beautifully capture both characters' movements and moods. Children will easily recognize the pet's wildly joyful leaps and bounds and his wary backward gaze as he slinks away from a grasping toddler. Pair this with Dave Crawley's Cat Poems (2005) for more lighthearted verse about the secret lives of cats. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
A boy interviews his cat in an exchange that illustrates Kuskin's perfect apprehension of the feline psyche. When its questioner expresses some anxiety about dark corridors, the cat responds with utter scorn; with relish, it demonstrates both its sleeping and its leaping, explaining that "Sometimes a feline / must fly free." The delightfully sinuous verse slides in and out of rhyming patterns, slipping extra syllables into the line, or shortening them as the cat explores its mercurial moods. Lewin's illustrations lean toward the comic, presenting a character who is significantly goofier than it represents itself in the discussion. Her characteristic heavy black outline tends toward the lumpy, and the big yellow eyes give the cat a rather lunatic aspect. Regrettably, this disconnect between the illustrations and the verse does not sufficiently develop an ironic tension that could create picture-book synergy. One would wish for either a literal interpretation or a wholly over-the-top deconstruction of the cat as poseur. As it is, the result is a superficially pleasing but ultimately unsatisfying mismatch of word and image. (Picture book. 3-8) (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book for toddlers
My 5 year old really loves this book. We have two cats and there are very few books with cats as real characters that kids can relate to. I also like that the cat relates to a boy, since many of the images in our society often show cats or kittens with little girls. If you have a son and cats or kittens please purchase this book for him.