From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2—With few words and one gray-striped cat, Lobel addresses a universal and complex theme. Her pictorial description of the feline's home, outside and in, precedes the text; Nini faces outward, her engaging eyes directed toward readers. She surmises from the piles of clothes, equipment, toys, and books that her family is going away, and she attempts to find a perfect perch from which she won't be left behind. She is discovered and placed in a case, and meows herself to sleep. Nini dreams of glorious adventures until her case is unzipped and she is coaxed out into an unfamiliar, yet glorious, sun-dappled landscape. The story concludes with her finding another comfortable perch, again on a windowsill. The sun sets, the moon rises; Nini explores her new surroundings knowing that her family is close by. Lobel's vibrant watercolor and white gouache illustrations and her nod to Matisse's decorative motif, line, and color visually engage readers. Nini's curious eyes and playful gestures, and the warm embrace of the arms that hold her, convey emotions and comfort to those who are wary of being left behind.—
Marian Creamer, Children's Literature Alive, Portland, OR Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* "Oh no," thinks Nini the cat. "They are going away without me." Just a few words on each page tell the minimal story of a striped tabby who watches her owners pack for a big trip. But Nini isn't left behind. She is zipped into a carrier (the much-loathed "big black thing"), where she falls asleep and dreams of wild capers and then awakens to find that she's been brought to a beautiful countryside home, her people by her side. Although there is more situation than story here, the artwork makes this picture book an endearing delight. Irresistible Nini steals the show in full-page portraits painted with Lobel's usual sensitivity in watercolor and gouache. With just tiny modifications of lines and angles, Lobel coaxes distinct expressions out of Nini's whiskered face, from her accusatory glare when the suitcases appear to her alert contentment during her dreamed adventures to the shadow of a smile she wears when she discovers her new home. And with equal subtlety, Lobel captures a family's warmth and togetherness without ever showing a human face. In brilliant colors and beautifully arranged compositions of a family's detritus--clothes, bags, books, boots, golf clubs, and guitars--she finds sweet order and hints of messy, loving moments within the chaos.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
