I Don't Want a Cool Cat!

PreS-Gr 2—Cats may have a reputation for being finicky, but there's not a feline in this book that's as fussy as the little girl telling the story, a companion to I Don't Want a Posh Dog! (Little, Brown, 2009). In fluid rhyming text she turns down a cool cat, a stuffy cat, a greedy cat, and a prize cat. The cat she wants has one important feature—it's a cat she can call her own. Pedigree and distinction cannot measure up to affection, and the one she chooses is just what anyone would want. There is no shortage of charm or humor in this book, exhibited by the artwork. Dodd uses solid colors and heavy outlines to distinguish figures against pastel-colored pages devoid of all background. The illustrations are all on spreads that make full use of the oversize space, even when they hardly take up any of it, as in the case of the "slinky, dinky, twinky cat," whose inability to fill a page personifies its inability to meet the girl's desires. Playful and jubilant, this book for cat connoisseurs will work well as a read-a-loud and for emerging readers who like to have fun with sounds and words.—Kara Schaff Dean, Walpole Public Library, MA