Praise for Teacher Cat

Underwood and Rueda maintain the droll narration and spare visual humor of the previous books ... There’s plenty to giggle over. —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“In a clean-up worthy of The Cat in the Hat, the kittens pitch in to save the day. . . . Cat’s droll expressions and signs are highlights . . . [and] readers may get a kick out of imagining what adventures they might have with their own substitute teachers.” —Kirkus

“Whether new to this series or a seasoned fan, this amusing read-aloud has much to offer the younger back-to-school crowd.” —School Library Journal

Underwood’s clever use of page-turns and comedic timing…deliver a droll story about the joys and challenges of teaching.” —The Horn Book

Valentine Cat Kirkus Review

Rueda masterfully uses white space and Cat’s facial expressions and body language to play up the emotions, exploiting the expansive page count for beautifully pitched comic timing.

Underwood’s endearing, voiceless cat is back, this time getting a lesson in Valentine’s Day tact. Using signs and props to communicate with an off-page, unseen, seemingly adult figure, Cat first establishes that he doesn’t like Valentine’s Day. It gradually comes out that, other than his stuffed squid, he has no friends. Just then, the conversation is interrupted by a bone, thrown over the fence by Cat’s new neighbor, Dog, and it’s not the first bone he’s thrown, either. Cat, being Cat, jumps to conclusions, especially after a thrown ball clobbers him. “Cat, what are you up to? // You are going to give Dog a valentine? // Oh, dear.” That about sums it up. Needless to say, the Roses are Red… poems Cat comes up with are not very tactful. But his construction of a rocket (to send Dog to the moon, of course) is interrupted by a valentine that flutters down and lands on its tip. Perhaps Dog isn’t the mean, awful neighbor Cat took him to be? Maybe he’s even a potential friend. Rueda masterfully uses white space and Cat’s facial expressions and body language to play up the emotions, exploiting the expansive page count for beautifully pitched comic timing.

Cat hasn’t lost his ability to charm readers, if for no other reason than children are so able to see themselves in him.


Link to the Kirkus review page

Kirkus Review for The Tooth Fairy Cat

KIRKUS REVIEW

Mischievous Cat is back (Here Comes Santa Cat, 2014, etc.), this time determined to meet the Tooth Fairy.

After losing a tooth, Cat is disappointed that he didn’t get to meet the Tooth Fairy when she left a coin under his pillow. Never at a loss for ideas, Cat concocts a plan to lure her back. Underwood and Rueda continue their playful repartee between the oh-so-patient narrator and silent Cat, bouncing the narrator’s understated questions off of Cat’s humorous expressions and handheld signs. Cat finds that it’s harder to trick a fairy than he expected. Two packages arrive with a note that suggests, “if you help me with a few deliveries, maybe we can meet. Love, Tooth Fairy.” But: “P.S. You’ll have some help.” When Mouse shows up as Cat’s assistant, Underwood plays the two off each other to great effect. Both animals are full of not-quite-helpful suggestions (“Cat! Mouse can climb into the hole perfectly well without your, uh, help”), and Rueda’s ink-and–colored-pencil illustrations heighten the humor with spot-on expressions and sight gags. Generous white space, expert timing, and minimalist illustrations focus attention on the plentiful, playful banter.

Clever fun continues in this delightful series. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Review 

Incredible news for the Easter Cat

Link: Kirkus best books of 2014

Four Stars for Easter Cat!!

Kirkus review

A mouse flees a cat in a striking sequence of opposite pairs.

A lively rodent—so simply depicted in solid black that he is practically only ears, bright eyes and whiskers—grasps one end of what is seen on the title page to be a very large, orange ball of yarn. When the cat arrives—also solid black and all long legs, paws, tail and menacing eyes—the mouse takes off in a brief and spirited sprint through several different perspectives and their opposites. A wade through deep water for the mouse is a shallow splash for the pursuing cat. In a leap from a height, the mouse and a leaf as parachute seem light, but a row of tiny ants bearing the leaves aloft suggests the leaves could be heavy. And when the chase is nearly over, the cat having reached the mouse, the orange yarn plays a role: “Is it the end… / …or is it the beginning?” The limited palette and plenty of blank space serve to keep the story in motion: The solid black and orange forms of mouse, cat and yarn pop from the page with energy and pizzazz, while gray appears in the form of solid planes, water, rocks and the third character: a toothy bulldog.

Fun and uncomplicated as a story and concept book but sophisticated in visual impact, this is agreeably stylish graphic design for the very young.(Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus