Tabby McTat, the Musical Cat

PreS-Gr 1—Fred is an extraordinary busker. He earns his living by playing guitar and singing to crowds… with his cat, Tabby McTat. When the two friends become separated for a period of time, they try to build new lives. McTat starts a family, and Fred tries out a different act. The feline is torn between his obligations to his family and his desire to find his friend, but, after they are reunited, McTat's son, Samuel Sprat, finds a solution that makes everyone happy. Librarians and teachers can make this rhyming story come to life by strumming a guitar while singing the lyrics in the refrain, "Me, you, and the old guitar,/How perfectly, perfectly happy we are./MEEE-EW and the old guitar,/How PURRRR-fectly happy we are." Scheffler's city scenes in saturated colors evoke a variety of emotions, and the expressions on the faces of the kittens and the people are hilarious. Use this book in discussions about relationships.—Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada