Stick Cat #1: A Tail of Two
Kitties. By Tom Watson. Harper. $12.99.
Bedtime Stories for Cats. By
Leigh Anne Jasheway. Andrews McMeel. $9.99.
Bedtime Stories for Dogs. By
Leigh Anne Jasheway. Andrews McMeel. $9.99.
Biscuit Feeds the Pets. By
Alyssa Satin Capucilli. Pictures by Pat Schories. Harper. $16.99.
Fresh from his repeated
successes with the Stick Dog series,
featuring drawings that are deliberately amateurish and stories supposed to
have sprung from the mind of one of the preteens at whom the books are aimed,
Tom Watson has now expanded his repertoire by creating Stick Cat. He has not,
however, expanded it very much. Once again he has created an amiable,
clear-thinking central character with rectangular body, circular head, and a
modest interest in adventures. Stick Dog’s interests are invariably
food-related, but it remains to be seen what Stick Cat’s will be. In A Tail of Two Kitties the focus is
music, but who knows if that will continue? Watson’s new series still has some
finding-of-its-way ahead of it, not only thematically but also in terms of
characters. Stick Dog leads a pack, and the other four dogs have differing
personalities and various ways of seeing – usually mis-seeing – the world, with
the result that Stick Dog has to be the sensible center of each story even as
his compatriots misinterpret pretty much everything in ways tied to each one’s
personality. Cats are not pack animals, though, and Stick Cat lives in a city
apartment, not somewhere that would allow him to roam freely, as Stick Dog
does. So Watson gives Stick Cat one single friend, Edith – the second of the
two kitties in the title of the first book – and tries to roll all the
observational imperfections of Stick Dog’s pack into a single character. This
does not work very well: Edith ends up being a rather unpleasant character,
thoroughly unaware of pretty much everything about herself, unobservant and
selfish to such a degree that she actually puts Stick Dog’s life in danger
during their first adventure. Hopefully she will become more bearable, or
cat-able, in later books. Thank goodness Watson’s plot rescues this one: Stick
Cat likes to watch and listen to the man who tunes pianos and then plays them
at the piano factory across the street, but one day the man’s arms get trapped
in a grand piano when its top falls onto them – and Stick Cat decides to rescue
“Mr. Music,” as he calls the man. Edith makes the rescue decidedly more
difficult, but eventually it is she who gets another man in to help after she accidentally
sits on Mr. Music’s dropped cell phone and it happens to dial one of his
co-workers. That scene, and one in which Stick Cat puts clothespins all over
his body, are funny enough to rescue the book from its less-attractive elements,
all of which are named Edith. At the end, Stick Cat gets a piano recital just
for himself, courtesy of the now-rescued Mr. Music, and drops happily off to
sleep to await his next adventure.
Had the music not been
available, Stick Cat might have availed himself of Bedtime Stories for Cats, in which Leigh Anne Jasheway retells such
fairy tales as “Kitty and the Beast,” “The Three Kitty Cats Gruff,” and even –
in a mildly noir-ish “detective
story” way – “Puss and the Missing Boots.” Then Jasheway throws in some
reconstituted and refocused nursery rhymes at the end, and the result is
considerable amusement for cat lovers, if not necessary for felines themselves.
Jasheway’s Bedtime Stories for Cats
and its companion, Bedtime Stories for
Dogs, originally date to 1996-1997, but the new books are suitably updated
with references to YouTube, the “Catdashians,” and other elements of 21st-century
life. The book for dogs (and their people) follows the same pattern as the one
for cats, including “The Three Little Pugs,” “Goldilocks and the Three Cats,”
“Cinderdane,” and the like; and yes, there are rethought nursery rhymes here as
well. Each book gets sentimental toward the end. “Alanis and Her Magic Belly”
is a story about the real-world wonders of rubbing a cat’s belly to make human problems
“magically disappear,” and “Angel Dogs” is about pups that do not behave
angelically at all but are angels as far as their owners are concerned. Really,
Jasheway’s books are bedtime stories for cat lovers and dog lovers, not for
companion animals themselves – but certainly humans might consider cuddling up
with a canine or feline companion and reading the books aloud, if only so their
voices will lull everyone to sleep at the same time.
Very young puppy fanciers
will find bedtime, or anytime, a great time to read Biscuit Feeds the Pets, which actually includes both dogs and cats
– and fish and guinea pigs, too. This is a “My First” book in the I Can Read! series, which means it is
“ideal for sharing with emergent readers.” But unlike many books in this
early-reading series, which are “based on” characters found elsewhere, this
work is created by the same author and illustrator who produce Biscuit books
for older kids, Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories. As a result, the book
serves as a wonderful introduction to Biscuit and the humans surrounding him,
and also reflects the same sense of amusement and playfulness as other,
somewhat more elaborate Biscuit books. Biscuit and his little-girl owner show
up at Mrs. Gray’s house to help feed her many pets, and all goes well until
Biscuit gets into his usual mild mischief after discovering a litter of
new puppies that are almost as big as he
is. A little too much enthusiastic play results in water and kibble spilling
all over the place, but no one is upset, and Biscuit gets a compliment for
finding his own way to help feed the pets. Biscuit is always cutely endearing,
and kids who are just learning to read will enjoy meeting him here if they have
not done so before – and will likely be encouraged by this story to seek out
others by Capucilli and Schories that are just as doggone enjoyable.
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