Charise Mericle Harper

First sentence: This is my shape. My shape can make a lot of things. I can draw a cat. I can draw a skateboard. I can draw a horse.

Premise/plot: Cat and Horse star in this silly picture book. Horse wants the book to draw a bicycle. The book can't having never seen one. Horse doesn't seem to have a clue how to draw a bicycle either. The book tries...and tries...and fails.The end.

My thoughts: I want my time back. I'm sure this book will find readers who are happy to have read it. There will probably be at least a few who will giggle at the silly antics. But for me personally, this was odd and strange in a way that didn't quite work. I'm not really sure why "the book" is an invisible entity interacting with the characters. When I first read it, I thought it was a dialogue between Cat and Horse. I didn't "get" that Book was also a character. I still don't get *why* that is. I found it unfunny the first time. But a puzzler the second time.… (more)

First sentence: Twelve paws like to celebrate. Four paws belong to Pepper. Four paws belong to Boo. Four paws belong to the Cat. The Cat is excited. It has been raining for five whole days. But today the sun is shining! It is a special day.

Premise/plot: Joy looks different to these three friends. Pepper and Boo--being dogs--like things their way. Cat--being a cat--likes things her way. Cat spends most of the book OUTSIDE experiencing much joy. Pepper and Bo spend most of the book inside experiencing joy as well. Much of their joy is in being free of Cat.

My thoughts: It was okay. That's the best I can say about this third entry in the series. It wasn't great. It wasn't awful. Not much happens--that's all. Which is fine. If you love, love, love the characters then perhaps it's still quite enjoyable to have sixty-four pages of not much happening. There's nothing wrong with having characters carry the story and do much of the 'heavy-lifting.'… (more)