The Cats' Party

Leonardo, Paul, Julie, Amadeus, Coco, Emil, Frederica, and Edison all make presents for the three little kittens that will be coming for a visit with their Uncle Arthur and Aunt Agatha

Kindergarten-Grade 2 Anticipating a first visit from three new kittens and their parents, the excited cats who live in a large house decide to have a party. Each cat will make a present for the kittens using his or her special talents (Paul the cook prepares a meal, musician Amadeus will play a concert, seamstress Coco makes pillowcases, and so on). Readers see each cat in a different room of the house, opposite a paragraph of text bordered by a decorative motif: onions; musical notes; spools of thread. The rooms of the house feature delicate Victorian dollhouse wallpapers which provide a backdrop for the full-color illustrations. The flat, sketchy, thick-lined illustrations appear crude when juxtaposed with the elegant printed wallpapers. The cats are shown in awkward, upright positions which are most uncat-like. The slight story, really a catalog of gifts, seems to have been written to provide a backdrop for the illustrations, and most especially for the wallpaper. The text reads like a literal, rather than an idiomatic, translation. Susan H. Patron, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.