Red Cat, White Cat

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

If not for Mackie's loopy cartoon cats, Mandel's (Ballerina Bunny Loves to Dance) list of opposites would seem run-of-the-mill. Rhyming phrases form the only text (``Up Cat, Down Cat... Farm Cat, Town Cat''), but exuberant felines bring each concept cleverly to life. On each page, a personable cat is framed within a central black square or rectangle; some energetic cats play on the boxes' perimeters (for ``In Cat, Out Cat,'' the latter clambers entirely out of his inky cage). Mackie draws in minute detail with pen and watercolors, and gives most every cat wide round eyes, a luxuriantly curved or spiraling tail, a fringe of dainty hairs standing at attention, and an oddly human, square-toothed smile. Perky extras add pizzazz: tiny mice scurry atop some frames, a radiant sun beams from the corner of the frame surrounding ``Hot Cat'' while faint snowflakes fall in the margins around the facing ``Cold Cat.'' Eye-catching. Ages 4-7. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-The brief listing of cats exhibiting opposite behaviors, different colors, etc., makes this an excellent idea for a concept book. Unfortunately, the text is married to a very sophisticated collection of drawings that have little child appeal. The page layouts with generous white margins around the black boxed pictures, and the large simple typeface draw the eye, but the silly angular cats with sly touches of mildly grotesque humor will not make youngsters return to this after an initial perusal.-Rosanne Cerny, Queens Borough Public Library, NY