Three City Kitties

PreS-Gr 1–Three cats sit looking out the window of a busy city scene that includes cars, buses, bicycles, a person pushing a baby carriage, and even someone flying a kite from a nearby roof. In the course of the day, children wave hello, and the cats nap. A delivery person stops by, and the cats hide. A box appears, and the cats play, eat, and chase one another around, finally going back to looking out the window. In other words, it’s a fairly typical day in the life of a cat—or three. Spare lines of rhyming text accompany the richly detailed illustrations, created with cut-paper collage. Some fun onomatopoeia—“The busy road rumbles, and mumbles and hums” and “ting ting, goes the spoon”—survives a few awkward rhymes, such as, “Outside the window/ wheels spin, legs stroll./ Dogs do what dogs do./ Little hands wave hello.” Onlookers will appreciate the skill with which Barron has created such realistic scenes out of this medium; the cats have distinct looks and personalities, perfectly expressed in and captured by the illustrations.