"And do you roar? Please tell me more" asks the boy human
(She's really giving that dictionary a work out).
"To 'do you roar?'
I have an answer--
I am a very silent dancer."
Let me address all the little humans out there: Cats may be individualists. We may seem a little strange to you...but we are not the schitzo-wingnuts this book would have you believe. If a little human asked me if I roar, I would say "no"...or to his hears "M'row" I would not go off on a rhyming scree about slipping through alleys and twirling and springing...if I were in a rhyming picture book, I might say:
The Tiger is a friend of mine
and though he roars all of the time,
I find that loudness only serves
to get upon my Humans' nerves.
I think the "cat" in this book does make some good observations like Humans look really weird without their fur...and they are good at balancing on two feet...but he never answers the little human's questions and I found that a little annoying. I do not think the Lady Writer spends a lot of time with cats...or if she does...she does not understand them.
The pictures are another matter. I think Betsy Lewin is very good at capturing kitty-ness with just a few dark lines and some water colors. I could do without the words almost completely. I give this book two and a half treats...and they are all for the pictures...I share the other two and a half treats with the grey kitty in the pictures who is probably embarrassed at the words put in his mouth.
THIS is Milk Ring...he changes colors ALL the time. Even though I have chomped through him when he was red...he comes back and he is green or blue or pink! He is a LOT of fun to chase across the carpet or the hardwood floor. Bubble likes to catch him mid-air--I never do that...I do not know whether he is in league with the mousies or not. He does not live in their box in the living room...he lives high up in a basket in the kitchen...which makes me think he is not just another mousie. I will have to make the Daddies get him down for me, so I can see if I can recruit him as eyes in the sky! If he watches the mousies from above, and Bubble and I from the ground...we can keep the world safe from mousie domination! |