A Curious Collection of Cats

Thirty-four concrete poems about our feline friends are paired with colorful, attention-grabbing illustrations in A Curious Collection of Cats. From landing on their feet (in balancing act) to defending their territory (Prickles vs. the Golden Retriever and a tomcat's yard is his kingdom), the cats in Franco's book are true to form, affectionate and destructive by turn. My favorite of the lot is probably A Tree for Samantha:

"Some cats can sense the way you feel - my Sam was one of those.
She knew my sad, my angry, my bummed, my happy-down-to-my-toes.
The older she got, the slower she got - her life came to a close.
To honor her, we bought an oak. It's planted by the rose.
The oak is strong, and it will make good climbing when it grows.
But show more it will never guess I'm sad and kiss me on the nose."

But each selection in this entertaining picture-book has charm, and the entire collection makes for good read-aloud material. The poems take on the shape of what they describe, in clever designs that will keep young readers occupied, and the deep hues of Michael Wertz's art creates a sense of visual frenzy that is quite appropriate to the topic. show less

The artwork in this book are also the lines of them poems themselves. They flip, twist and make up pictures all in reference to what is being read. I see this book being a lot of fun and show that poems can do whatever you want them to do! Each page fit the tone while still all being cohesively made by the same illustrator (Michael Wertz) and I think this, along with other poetry can show that not all poems need to rhyme, make sense, or be about love. These are fun and entertaining and show the freedom of range poetry has, which I could easily incorporate into reading journals, vocabulary words or other writing activities, as well as art!


This collection of poems is appealing both textually and visually. The author's use of descriptive language helps to paint a picture in the reader's mind. For example, one poem describes cats as "winter scarfs of fur." This demonstrates to the reader that cats can be clingy as well as comforting and warm. Each poem is also concrete-- meaning that the words are arranged in different shapes for visual appeal. For example, one poem about a cat's long and graceful tail is arranged in the shape of a question mark-- like a real cat's tail. Cat lovers everywhere will appreciate this collection of quirky poems!

An entire book dedicated to writing poems about cats. The poems cover everything about cat's behavior from sleeping, eating, fighting and playing. What I like about this book is that the words are a part of the illustration. The layout is very creative because the words create visual movement.

As is the nature of concrete poems, the poems in this book all take shapes-- as cats, their tails, their territory, their environment. The poems are thus part of the illustrations, which were all done in very bold, bright colors. The poems all rhyme, and are often clever or humorous. As such, the palette matched the tone of the poems, but because the poems are shapes they are sometimes hard to read. Sometimes the words got lost in the image because the bright, bold colors and fonts were visually overwhelming. This would be a very hard book for a new reader to read on his or her own, though they would probably enjoy the poems being read to them. On the other hand, it would be a great book to include in a unit on poetry, especially show more concrete poems. Older kids would also enjoy the content and could more easily decipher the text. show less

Although concrete poems make me a little dizzy, any cat lover, young or old, would enjoy this collection! The illustrations bring the poems to life, with swishing tails, stretches, laundry naps, and much more.

The poems in this book are funny, but what really makes it great are the illustrations.The theme is cats, and there are all sorts of crazy wacky pictures that show the movement and the emotion of the poems.