A Carnival of Cats Read-Along

August 3, 2015
Ghigna and Bridgeman offer a rhyming guessing game featuring 10 cats, set against the festive atmosphere of a carnival. Pennants, balloons, lanterns, and confetti adorn Bridgeman’s mixed-media illustrations, while readers can turn the pages to complete Ghigna’s playful rhymes: “Fluffy fur./ Fun to pat./ Could that be a.../ Persian cat!/ Eyes the size/ of a harvest moon./ Could that be a.../ Great Maine Coon!” Bridgeman’s wide-eyed cats can initially be spied peeking through small square frames; page turns reveal them displaying their circus-worthy talents: a tabby cat grins widely as it balances on a ball, and a black Bombay walks a tightrope. Cat lovers of any age should be delighted. Up to age 3.

Starred review from January 1, 2016
A carnival theme runs through the illustrations in this brief introduction to different breeds of cats. Rhyming text and a window at the center of the right-hand pages suggest a certain type of cat. For example: the first window frames the paws and part of the face of an orange-and-black kitty cat, and the accompanying text reads: "Orange and black / from head to toe. / Could that be a...." Turn the page for the answer--"Calico!"--and an illustration of the calico cat grinning while swinging from a trapeze bar. The artwork, created with sepia ink, watercolor, and wax resist on paper, offers lovely, detailed pictures of all the felines frolicking about in carnival settings. In addition to the calico, the book features a tabby, Siamese, Persian, Maine coon, bobtail, Bombay, Russian blue, and a Scottish fold. The kitty riddles are framed with scenes of a little girl trying to identify a black-and-white cat, and the final heartwarming pages read: "Here comes that cat. / I know what kind. / He's just a stray. / That cat is... // Mine!" No doubt preschoolers will enjoy learning about the various breeds of cat, but it's the whimsical illustrations that really make this one something to purr about. (Board book. 2-4)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

A carnival theme runs through the illustrations in this brief introduction to different breeds of cats. Rhyming text and a window at the center of the right-hand pages suggest a certain type of cat. For example: the first window frames the paws and part of the face of an orange-and-black kitty cat, and the accompanying text reads: "Orange and black / from head to toe. / Could that be a...." Turn the page for the answer--"Calico!"--and an illustration of the calico cat grinning while swinging from a trapeze bar. The artwork, created with sepia ink, watercolor, and wax resist on paper, offers lovely, detailed pictures of all the felines frolicking about in carnival settings. In addition to the calico, the book features a tabby, Siamese, Persian, Maine coon, bobtail, Bombay, Russian blue, and a Scottish fold. The kitty riddles are framed with scenes of a little girl trying to identify a black-and-white cat, and the final heartwarming pages read: "Here comes that cat. / I know what kind. / He's just a stray. / That cat is... // Mine!" No doubt preschoolers will enjoy learning about the various breeds of cat, but it's the whimsical illustrations that really make this one something to purr about. (Board book. 2-4) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.