Sneakers the Seaside Cat

Rating:
Summary: Brown & Mortimer-- winning combination
Review: Margaret Wise Brown, best known for her classic "Goodnight Moon" book, was a prolific author. Her books have been reprinted often of late, usually with a new illustrator more suited to modern tastes and the better printing techniques. In this case cat artist extraordinaire, Anne Mortimer, has been selected and the results are simply stunning.

The story itself is fairly simple: Sneakers, a plump and handsome black and white cat, accompanies his human family to the seaside for the first time. He explores the seashore flora and fauna; the repeating line is "My, I am glad I saw that." Brown's writing never condescended to children, who may enjoy the childlike adventures of Sneakers (although adult cat owners may not like the fact that Sneakers is allowed to roam about by himself; the current trend seems toward all indoor cats.)

As for the illustrations, they are just stunning. I do like Ms. Mortimer's work as a rule but this time she has outdone herself. The posture and expressions she has captured are among the best I have seen: incredibly naturalistic. On the basis of illustration alone I would recommend this book, but it would work very well for a pre-school beach/seashore/summer book.

Rating:
Summary: Brown & Mortimer-- winning combination
Review: Margaret Wise Brown, best known for her classic "Goodnight Moon" book, was a prolific author. Her books have been reprinted often of late, usually with a new illustrator more suited to modern tastes and the better printing techniques. In this case cat artist extraordinaire, Anne Mortimer, has been selected and the results are simply stunning.

The story itself is fairly simple: Sneakers, a plump and handsome black and white cat, accompanies his human family to the seaside for the first time. He explores the seashore flora and fauna; the repeating line is "My, I am glad I saw that." Brown's writing never condescended to children, who may enjoy the childlike adventures of Sneakers (although adult cat owners may not like the fact that Sneakers is allowed to roam about by himself; the current trend seems toward all indoor cats.)

As for the illustrations, they are just stunning. I do like Ms. Mortimer's work as a rule but this time she has outdone herself. The posture and expressions she has captured are among the best I have seen: incredibly naturalistic. On the basis of illustration alone I would recommend this book, but it would work very well for a pre-school beach/seashore/summer book.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing illustrations
Review: While it is nice to have another book by the classic author, Margaret Wise Brown, Sneakers, the Seaside Cat is best bought for its illustrations. Anne Mortimer's skill in depicting cats, beach and ocean life and beach scenes is without comparison in any recent children's picture books. In fact, her illustrations alone, without text, would have made this a five-star picture book for youngsters and a GREAT board book. Her illustrations have been paired with Brown's story which is not to exciting but is easy to read and has a good range of words for beginning readers.