Yasmine Surovec

This was adorable without being saccharine and I declare Surovec the new illustrator of cute cats for kids.

A nameless cat is perfectly happy with his life. He has friends, he has places he can get food, he has his independence. He doesn't need humans. After all, he could only put up with a very special human and he's sure such a human doesn't exist. But then someone moves into the new house....and she has TUNA. The cat simply must have some. He's just staying for the tuna. And the boxes. And show more the back rubs. And....maybe he doesn't need to leave just yet?

The book is heavily illustrated with black and white pictures and they are all simply perfect. The cat is a deliciously round and cozy cat and the animals and people have definite personalities, even with the simple lines of the art. The layout is a mix of illustrations, speech bubbles, and small chunks of text, perfect for beginning chapter readers and fans of graphic novels.

The humor in this book is much more subtle than, say, Bad Kitty, but it has a charm all its own. It's funny, kooky, and sweet and has a hopeful theme about finding family and friendship in unexpected places. I also appreciated the depiction of a single family home and the different but happy families of the cat's various animal friends.

Verdict: Although it stands on its own, you will also want to recommend this one to fans of Chi's Sweet Home, Bad Kitty, and Miss Annie. Beginning chapter readers will embrace it and cat fans will adore it. Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9781626720732; Published 2015 by Roaring Brook; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

Cat vs. Human is an adorable series about cats and their humans versus the cats belonging to humans - as is the truth which you know if you own a cat. In this installment, we have the retelling of human fairy tales as cats would see them or interact with humans in them and it is in graphic novel format. The graphic novel has beautiful richly colored bright images throughout and is a very easy read.

Some of the re-told tales include: The Little Mermaid, Jack and the Beanstalk and the Ugly show more Duckling - appropriately renamed to 'The Ugly Kitten'. This book was very entertaining and I really enjoyed reading it over a lunch break. The illustrations are simple yet captivating and the retellings are humorous but still true enough to the originals to spot what tale they are. I think that the author did a wonderful job conveying the hilarity that is cat ownership and love, and shows cats in their very natural state of taking everything over.

If you are a cat lover, I strongly recommend this for you. It is adorablably purr-fect (hahahahaha- sorry, if I can't laugh at myself, who will). show less

These are my cats, and I love them. Actually, I love all cats. I don't think I've met a cat I haven't loved. I've been called a crazy cat lady by more than one person... just this week. What I'm getting at is that I really like cats.

So, really, it should be no surprise that I'm a fan of Cat vs. Human. Or that I was a big fan of this book.

Poetry's not really my thing, but cat poems? That's something I can get behind. I found myself smiling and laughing at several of them, because they're show more true, and even though some of those poems were hundreds of years old, cats haven't changed.

Also, the artwork is amazing. This book is worth it for the artwork alone.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy.

[see all my reviews at the bibliophagist] show less

Cute and fun, sometimes clever, but very simple. Very fast read (like 10 minutes). Drawing was cute, but I didn't care for the humans' mouths - too clowny.