Carson Ellis

My kid is starting Spanish immersion preschool soon, so this was delightfully hilarious. MJ is only two, but she is super verbal and so the nonsense language in this book drove her crazy. I wouldn't say she enjoyed it, but it challenged her and she wanted to read it again and again trying to figure out the puzzle of what the nonsense words mean.

She also really enjoyed the freaky-looking spider. (Enough with cutesy spiders in picture books! Give me [b:I'm Trying to Love Spiders|23281865|I'm Trying to Love Spiders|Bethany Barton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1412530391s/23281865.jpg|42819784] any day.) This kind of accidentally became a book about death for us because MJ was very concerned about what happened to the spider. I said the bird ate it. She still wanted to know what happened to it. I said it's gone. Her face was so serious. Where? I was like, TOO SOON. But then I recovered and said it was in the bird's stomach and she let us move on.… (mer)

First sentence: This story is not about a kitten. A kitten, hungry and dirty, scared and alone, meowing sadly, needing a home. This story is not about the dog who stopped when it heard the kitten, hungry and dirty, scared and alone, meowing sadly, needing a home. This story is not about the dog's people who listened, or the dog who stopped when it heard the kitten...

Premise/plot: This picture book celebrates a community that come together to rescue a kitten. The storytelling format is loosely inspired by "The House That Jack Built...." but perhaps lacking some of the clever rhythm.

My thoughts: I don't know that the repetitive nature of this format works when the rhythm is so clunky and not quite right. I think the story of a community coming together could be super compelling. And for many readers--less picky readers--this one could still work quite well.… (mer)