Suppertime for Frieda Fuzzypaws

In order to receive a cookie for dessert, a kitten must first eat her macaroni and beans. On board pages.

It’s suppertime, but Frieda has her eyes on a plate of delicious-looking cookies papa has baked, not the healthy dinner mama has dished out. “I’m not hungry,” she says, “but I will have a cookie, please.” Every parent and child will laugh at the familiar battle of wills between the little kitty cat who won’t eat and her caring (but firm) mom and dad.

Cyndy Szekeres is a well-known illustrator of both her own children's books and those of such writers as Betty Boegehold, Patsy Scarry, and Jan Wahl. After her first assignment with small ad agencies and magazines, she began illustrating children's fashion in The New York Times. In 1960, Doubleday offered and Cyndy accepted an assignment to illustrate her first picture book: New Shoes by Sam Vaughn. A steady flow of books followed, and in 1974 her family moved from city life in Brooklyn Heights to country life in Putney, Vermont. Szekeres finds inspiration and good research just a few steps out the door of her home and in the surrounding woods.