Cat, You Better Come Home

Rating:
Summary: Yes, fine for Adults, but kids lose story in vocabulary
Review: I agree it's a fine "Kids book for Adults", with simply beautiful illustrations, and wity prose. But as far as a book for kids, I've found that the advanced vocabulary actually gets in the way of successfully conveying the story to young elementary children. Unless your child can handle words such as truckle, pate, and manse, you will find yourself stopping on every page to explain what's really being said. This tends to quickly take away from the enjoyment of reading the story aloud.

Rating:
Summary: For big kids
Review: The narrator's cat wants to go out, and he argues with it, telling her she better come back if he lets her out. When he finally lets her out, she takes off immediately to Europe and lives it up on chateaubriand and other fancy food, and develops a decidedly European purr. But her life of excess results in her eventual demise, and she ends up back home again after a year and half. The text is all told in rhyme, and the artwork is in an interesting cubist-influenced style. The book is quite sophisticated, and may go over the heads of most small people. It has about 1100 words.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, funny and very moving
Review: This retelling of the prodical son story based on a runaway cat is one children's book that moms and dads will love, maybe even more than their kids. Garrison Keillor's poem is a joy to read and the artwork so is beautiful you won't even want to let your children get their hands on it. The story is rich in sarcasm and symbolism for adults and funny rhymes and sound effects for the kids.