Customer Reviews

The Cat's Pajamas: 101 of the World's Cutest Cats

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book contains lovely full-color, full-page photos and a some info about different breeds of cats. The reason it does not get 5 stars is that only about 43 of the pictures are not already in

Smitten: A Kitten's Guide to Happiness or
101 Cataclysms: For the Love of Cats.

Some of the repeated photos were smaller or black & white in the earlier books.

Also there is not the nice little bits of info about the cat and taking the photos that are at the back of the other books.

Lovely book of cat photos, but I wish they had all (101) been new pictures.

When I came across The Cat's Pajamas I was pretty sure I had found a winner. Lots and lots of pictures of cats meant my pre-reading daughter would be able to wallow in cats to her heart's delight, buying me some precious time to sleep in or read a book of my own.

This theory was only half-right. I did find a winner, but there is nothing quiet about my daughter's enjoyment of this book.

"Mommyo, there's a cat in a bag, can you believe your eyes?"

"Mommyo, there's a cat wearing glasses! That's so silly!"

"Mommyo, that cat's purple!"

(No, really, apparently British Shorthairs come in purple now. Well, lilac, if you want to get technical about it.)

This book is clearly a big hit with my daughter, who has fallen asleep clutching it more than once.

I like many things about it too. There are several breeds in here that I've never heard of, and Hale does a good job of succinctly describing the origins of those rarer (and/or newer) breeds.

My main criticism of the book is that the subtitle, "101 of the World's Cutest Cats," sets an impossibly high bar for a book that doesn't include a single tortoiseshell cat.

Also, with a few exceptions such as the silver shaded Chinchilla Persian on p. 150, the chocolate Mandalay on p. 66, and the cream Devon Rex on p 52, Hale's photos are simply extremely competent images of cats being cats. Here and there Hale shows her subjects doing something unexpected and adorable, but for the most part, her images lack the artistry of Anne Geddes or the humor of William Wegman. The cover photo actually is a pretty good example of what I mean. The photo is cute, but cat-wearing-bow is hardly a surprising or original concept.

That said, my daughter (who has never heard of either Geddes or Wegman) clearly doesn't care. She just loves having a photo album of her beloved kittens.

(Review originally published on my blog: Caterpickles--Scientific and Linguistic Engagement with a 4 year old mind, [...])

I was looking for a gift for a fellow cat shelter volunteer and for a neighbor with whom I trade pet-sitting duties (in other words: major cat lovers). I despise cornball, overly sappy kitty photos of any kind. I am also a photography buff (former professional shooter). I love this book. Yeah, the cats ARE really beautiful and interesting, but the photography is what grabbed me. The use of a limited palette in each setup really works. I ended up buying 7 copies of this book - I'll be keeping one. I gave one away today as an early xmas gift and the recipient was knocked out, she loved it. I wonder if it had a better title - without the words "cutest" or "pajamas" - if it would attract more people like me who want something a little more sophisticated than what you find in a typical cat calendar. Another reviewer compared this book to Anne Geddes books, which didn't make much sense to me, as they are different in every way. Aesthetically speaking - this book has better photography.