The Cookie-Store Cat

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A foundling cat lives a charmed life in this companion to The Bookshop Dog. After morning kisses from the cookie bakers, the plump, ginger-colored cat visits the neighborhood shopowners and keeps the regulars company. Even better, he basks in attention from the after-school crowd: "The cookie-store cat rubs his nose with theirs, and bats at their pencils, and licks drops of milk from their fingers." Rylant's thickly painted figures and furniture (even the text) have a fittingly doughy look, and the buildings could be made of gingerbread. She sprinkles the spreads with hearts, spirals and cookie shapes and indulgently enumerates the compliments showered on the cat, as the bakers tell him "he is prettier than marzipan. They brag that he is a gumdrop gem." The bakery itself is the hub of a tightly knit community: at day's end, the chefs take the leftovers to "the Children's Home," while Kitty keeps watch over the shop until their return at daybreak. A cat-lover's confection. Ages 3-up. (May) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PW called this tale of a foundling cat living a charmed life "a cat-lover's confection." Ages 7-10. (July) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature - Betty Hicks

Three kind bakers take in a hungry kitten, feed him, love him, and tell him "he is sweeter than a frosted cream, prettier than a cinnamon sugarplum." Their soothing words and actions bring to mind how caring parents might praise and comfort a young child. The cat befriends customers and visits neighboring shopkeepers, including Martha Jane, the bookshop dog from Rylant's earlier book. In fact, this book makes a nice companion to The Bookshop Dog. Rylant's primitive art style, however, seems to be an even better fit for this book than her previous one. Her bold colors and childlike drawings are perfect for this gingerbread world of iced cookies and cherry drop doors. Every brush-stroke looks good enough to eat, even the chefs' soft, marshmallow-white hats. This quiet book would make a cozy choice for bedtime, unless all those caramel clusters and ginger creams tempt listeners to raid the refrigerator. Fortunately, there are recipes in the back.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-With simple acrylics accented with cake-decorating squiggles, Rylant illustrates her saccharine story of an orphan cat fawned over by the bakers and visitors to a cookie store. The bakery is part of a strip of specialty shops that include Martha Jane's Bookshop and its canine matchmaker introduced in Rylant's The Bookshop Dog (Scholastic, 1996). Unlike her doggy drama, though, there isn't any tension here, just a low-key description of the cat's largely indolent lifestyle. Readers learn that one of the bakers in this doll-like town found the scrawny kitty while opening the shop several years earlier, nursed him to health on cream and cookie dough, and, with the consent of the other employees, designated him the store mascot. The children adore him and let him lick drops of milk from their fingers while they eat their snacks. Recipes for seven treats follow the story (no mention of adult supervision being necessary). Bold colors and find-the-kitty double-page spreads will appeal to preschoolers (who won't know what ginger creams and bachelor buttons are, just that they probably taste good) and the Pleasantville perfection will give them sweet, reassuring dreams. Cat Heaven on Earth for this lucky feline.-John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX

Kirkus Reviews

There is an ineffable sweetness in Rylant's work, which skirts the edge of sentimentality but rarely tumbles, saved by her simple artistry. This companion piece to The Bookshop Dog (1996) relates how the cookie-store cat was found, a tiny, skinny kitten, very early one day as the bakers came in to work. The cat gets morning kisses, when the bakers tell him that he is "sweeter than any cookie" and "prettier than marzipan." Then he makes his rounds, out the screen door painted with "cherry drops and gingerbread men" to visit the fish-shop owner, the yarn lady, and the bookshop, where Martha Jane makes a cameo appearance. Back at the cookie store, the cat listens to Father Eugene, who eats his three Scotch chewies and tells about the new baby in the parish, and sits with the children and their bags of cookies. At Christmas he wears a bell and a red ribbon, and all the children get free Santa cookies. The cheerful illustrations are done in paint as thick as frosting; the flattened shapes and figures are a bit cookie-shaped themselves. A few recipes are included in this yummy, comforting book. (Picture book. 4-8)