Mr. Wuffles!

This book has no real words to it because it takes place almost entirely between a cat named Mr. Wuffles and a crew of tiny alien colonists that the cat is fascinated by. The aliens are shown speaking their native language, but as it is not English, we are left to interpret their actions through the illustrations. Luckily, the story is fairly linear and easy to follow, the aliens' ship is damaged by Mr. Wuffles, who believes that the ship, as with all of creation, is a cat toy. The aliens evade destruction by the comparatively enormous Mr. Wuffles, and join forces with the bugs that live in the household to formulate a plan to repair their ship and escape. The bugs share their food with the aliens, who then share their learning and show more technology with the bugs. The plan is put into action, and the combined forces of the aliens and the bugs manage to ensure the aliens' escape. The book closes on the ants in the walls, wearing clothes and using tools, creating cave drawings of their battle with the cat. I love the implication that aliens would arrive and endow a species with space-age knowledge and technology, but that the aliens would be so tiny the only species they could interact with would be bugs. Its a great twist on an old tale, and framing it as ostensibly a book about a cat's adventures makes everything inside all the more surprising. show less

I liked this book for three reasons. The first is that the book, for the most part, relied on illustrations in a comic strip format instead of text to describe the story, making it very unique. This made the pictures very detailed, to the point where I felt like I was in the story. I also liked the plot or storyline of the story because it was very creative. Mr. Wuffles is a housecat that discovers aliens in a toy and begins to play with it. The aliens are forced to leave their spaceship in search of shelter away from Mr. Wuffles so that they can fix parts to fly their ship. When they discover shelter underneath a dresser, they make friends with insects who help devise a plan to escape Mr. Wuffles. Lastly, even though the book is show more fictitious and a fantasy genre, I believe the characters are relatable to the reader. A lot of people have cats as house pets, and do not understand why they are so interested in certain objects. Also, the aliens making friends with insects portrays making new friendships, which is a very important aspect in the developmental stage in the age group of the readers. The book portrays a message that emphasizes communication and different languages among individuals. show less

Mr. Wuffles has very little interest in the cat toys presented to him by his caregiver -- that is, until it turns out one "toy" spaceship has actual aliens inside! The minute travelers have to outwit the quick-footed cat to travel back home safely.

This book is almost entirely wordless, which allows young "readers" to view the illustrations and tell the story on their own. This kind of book is great for working the creative juices, interpreting art, and decoding facial expressions and body movements --- all skills just as important as learning traditional reading. A child can "read" this story on her or his own, although I would recommend that at least a first reading be done with an adult to help guide them through the process of show more storytelling.

The illustrations are top-notch with lots of vivid, fluid actions depicted faithfully. The author/illustrator apparently studied his own cat to get the movements right and his efforts paid off with very realistic renderings of the cat at play and at rest. show less

A 2014 Caldecott Honor Book In a near wordless masterpiece that could only have been devised by David Wiesner, a cat named Mr. Wuffles doesn't care about toy mice or toy goldfish. He’s much more interested in playing with a little spaceship full of actual aliens—but the ship wasn't designed for this kind of rough treatment. Between motion sickness and damaged equipment, the aliens are in deep trouble. When the space visitors dodge the cat and take shelter behind the radiator to repair the damage, they make a host of insect friends. The result? A humorous exploration of cooperation between aliens and insects, and of the universal nature of communication involving symbols, “cave” paintings, and gestures of friendship.

As engrossing as Flotsam and perhaps even more entertaining, Mr. Wuffles is wordless storytelling at its best. The story tells the hilarious saga of Mr. Wuffles, the bored house cat, versus the tiny aliens whose spaceship power supply he breaks. The best scenes unfold when the aliens retreat under the radiator with their ship’s broken engine and discover a neolithic race of bugs living in the wall. They communicate through ‘cave’ paintings, and the bugs help them repair their ship and escape. The bugs’ cave painting were so funny!

I am always biased in favor of books about cats. But this is also a book about aliens. They are tiny aliens, and Mr. Wuffles likes to play with them. When they go into hiding, there are insects too! This is a seriously funky story.

Cute, but not my favorite Wiesner. Fun wordless storyline that seems to be classic Weisner. I happen to love Wiesner's illustrations as a rule--I first fell in love with the fabulous flying frogs in [b:Tuesday|97860|Tuesday|David Wiesner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328870556l/97860._SX50_.jpg|3036058]--but didn't react favorably to the drawings that were Mr. Wuffles cat-centric. I wonder if there's something to the animals we see so frequently in our lives and art (dogs, cats, horses) that lifelike representations end up being scrutinized to a different degree? Mr. Wuffles face seemed just a tad skew. I remember seeing something about that once with Pixar, and how the cartoon families had to be show more tweaked because they were lifelike enough that they landed on the viewer 'creepy' scale. Anyway, the cat seemed skewed, so I kept being visually distracted from the fun story of the aliens and bugs. Had to love the power of intergalactic cooperation! show less