I Don't Want A Cool Cat

December 1, 2011 7:06 pm | By Zootoo Editor Flinn D.

I Don’t Want a Cool Cat!, by Emma Dodd is a charming children’s book about a young girl who lists all the things she is certain she doesn’t want in a cat. About halfway through the book, she switches and begins to list the things she does want in a cat. The story is written in rhyming verses that are clever and sweet — and reveal the stubborn but loving personality of the child at its center.

The point of the book, as far as I can tell, is to teach kids to let go of their likes and dislikes and love other beings for who they are. In the end, our young heroine realizes that she just wants a cat she can call her own, and she doesn’t care if it has all the things wrong with it that she cited in the beginning. The illustrations are sweet, funny and colorful — the outlines of the figures are drawn in ink and then filled in with bright splashes of color. And just about every species of cat imaginable can be found running across the pages.

The author has written a number of other children’s books about pets including I Don’t Want a Posh Dog and Dog’s Colorful Day. Her talent with words is evident in the easy flow of the rhymes and the way they fit together to tell an interesting story with a great message at its center. I Don’t Want a Cool Cat! is perfect for toddlers. The illustrations will fire their imagination and the prose will make them grin and giggle with delight.

Pros: Illustrations and prose will charm children.

Cons: None.