Finding that she cannot get to sleep with all of the mice scampering around her house at night, Mrs. Mudge lets in a passel of passing cats in this poetic picture-book from author Jan Wahl and illustrator Dolores Avendaño. Unfortunately, the cats too make noise, not just in chasing the mice away, but in confronting a crew of robbers breaking into the house. Finally fed up, Mrs. Mudge chases both cats and robbers away, only to find she still can't sleep. It is then that she surrenders to the inevitable, and lets the mice back in, befriending them...

I picked up Cats and Robbers chiefly because I was drawn in by the cover artwork, and by the title. I love cats, and stories about cats, and I found illustrator Dolores Avendaño's depictions of them here delightful. Her artwork is luminous, with a beautifully deep but subtle palette. Jan Wahl's text on the other hand, which makes uses of a loose rhyming structure, left a little to be desired, sometimes reading well, and sometimes feeling a little awkward and forced. The story itself left me feeling sorry for the cats, who rid Mrs. Mudge of both mice and burglars, only to be chased away. The conclusion, in which Mrs. Mudge plays with a roomful of mice, could be seen as sweet, but struck me as a bit creepy.

I enjoyed the artwork here enough that the reading experience was still a pleasure, but I'm not sure I would strongly recommend the book, save to fans of the artist. I see that Avendaño is the illustrator of the Argentine editions of the Harry Potter books, but it doesn't seem as if she has done many other picture-books, which is a shame. ( )