From Publishers Weekly
A foundling cat lives a charmed life in this companion to The Bookshop Dog. After morning kisses from the cookie bakers, the plump, ginger-colored cat visits the neighborhood shopowners and keeps the regulars company. Even better, he basks in attention from the after-school crowd: "The cookie-store cat rubs his nose with theirs, and bats at their pencils, and licks drops of milk from their fingers." Rylant's thickly painted figures and furniture (even the text) have a fittingly doughy look, and the buildings could be made of gingerbread. She sprinkles the spreads with hearts, spirals and cookie shapes and indulgently enumerates the compliments showered on the cat, as the bakers tell him "he is prettier than marzipan. They brag that he is a gumdrop gem." The bakery itself is the hub of a tightly knit community: at day's end, the chefs take the leftovers to "the Children's Home," while Kitty keeps watch over the shop until their return at daybreak. A cat-lover's confection. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-With simple acrylics accented with cake-decorating squiggles, Rylant illustrates her saccharine story of an orphan cat fawned over by the bakers and visitors to a cookie store. The bakery is part of a strip of specialty shops that include Martha Jane's Bookshop and its canine matchmaker introduced in Rylant's The Bookshop Dog (Scholastic, 1996). Unlike her doggy drama, though, there isn't any tension here, just a low-key description of the cat's largely indolent lifestyle. Readers learn that one of the bakers in this doll-like town found the scrawny kitty while opening the shop several years earlier, nursed him to health on cream and cookie dough, and, with the consent of the other employees, designated him the store mascot. The children adore him and let him lick drops of milk from their fingers while they eat their snacks. Recipes for seven treats follow the story (no mention of adult supervision being necessary). Bold colors and find-the-kitty double-page spreads will appeal to preschoolers (who won't know what ginger creams and bachelor buttons are, just that they probably taste good) and the Pleasantville perfection will give them sweet, reassuring dreams. Cat Heaven on Earth for this lucky feline.
John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TXCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
