Golly! What a week!
A graduation! A twentieth birthday! And first copies of three new books! All within 5 days!
It’s no wonder I don’t know where the week went, yet here we are at Friday again!
Friday is a really excellent day. It means we’re about to get a weekend, and it means a list of Perfect Picture Books to enjoy over that weekend – an unbeatable combination! All we need to make it true perfection is a nice chocolatey snack to go along with our picture books and our weekend 🙂 (Those of us who are mothers might luck out 🙂 )
I had another book in mind for today. Something Mother’s Day-ish. Based on the jacket copy I thought I’d love it. But when I read it my reaction could only be described as meh (not what you want for a Perfect Picture Book!) and then I read this one and loved it start to finish, so there was really no contest, even though technically this one is NOT Mother’s Day-ish. Preconceived idea out, awesome surprise book in 🙂 I hope you like it too 🙂
Title: Lost Cat
Written & Illustrated By: C. Roger Mader
Houghton Mifflin Books For Children, October 2013, Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: journey, pets, love (person/pet)
Opening: “Ever since Slipper was a tiny kitten, she’d lived with a little old lady in a little old house in a little old town.”
Brief Synopsis: Slipper has always lived happily with Mrs. Fluffy Slippers, but when Mrs. Fluffy Slippers moves, Slipper accidentally gets left behind in the commotion. Slippers searches for a new home, but not just any home will do – it has to be the right one. Will she find a new family she can adopt?
Links To Resources: Washington Children’s Choice Award Activities (scroll about 1/2 way down the pdf); Fun Facts About Cats; How To Draw A Cat video; learn to draw a cat step-by-step guide.
(Sorry – I can’t make that picture turn the right way around so you’ll have to tilt your head! 🙂 )
Why I Like This Book: First and foremost, I love the art! Soft pastels that render that beautiful kitty so life-like! Her expressions are perfect, especially her fright at High Tops, her polite pleading with Miss Shiny Shoes, and her bliss on the last two pages. And the cat’s-eye-view perspective is wonderful. The story is a sweet one with both humorous and poignant moments. I love that all the people in the story are named for their footwear – which is what Slippers sees of them first 🙂 And most of all, I love that this lost cat story has a happy ending 🙂
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂
Oh, and P.S. For those of you who didn’t already see it on FaceBook, my single first copies of my new books DID arrive 🙂 🙂 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
WOW Susanna! Three at once. Impressive. Can’t wait to read them. Congratulations! ❤
Thank you for finding and featuring LOST CAT. I love cats and books about cats. I can't wait to get a hold of this one.
Three BIG events, three NEW books – there’s gotta be a picture book hidden somewhere in here! Congratulations! This is BIG even from a human’s perspective – and I can’t imagine what it looks like from the cat’s eye view.
I haven’t seen Lost Cat before, but it looks like a wonderful story about love & loss, and experiencing the world from a little one’s perspective.
Happy Mother’s Day (and happy celebrate-the-week’s milestones day)!
I love a good lost animal story as long as there’s a happy ending! And the art in LOST CAT looks amazing. Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful covers on your THREE NEW BOOKS — wow!
Awesomeness is in bloom, Susanna! So happy about the books, the birthday, the graduation…and any other good stuff that is blooming around Blueberry Hill. 😉
As always, thanks so much for this excellent picture book platform…I always look forward to connecting on Friday!
And a big Happy Mother’s Day to you! And to all of our other kid lit moms.
Well Susanna…don’t those three shiny new books look wonderful! 🙂
Congratulations on your Big Three Events, and those three books look awesome. Guess we were in zinc this week as mine is also a pet in cute illustrations. Have a great weekend and “Happy Mother’s Day.” (We celebrate on Sunday down here and are taking Mum out to a local restaurant for lunch).
That sounds like a very sweet book. Thanks for sharing.
Have a lovely Mother’s Day!
The illustrations on this one look great, but I would much prefer a story about a lost rodent. Work on that, won’t you? 😉