Rating: WORTHY!
I almost missed my chance to review this one - Net Galley slipped it into my in box without me getting any kind of notification via email (that I recall anyway!) that it was there. Fortunately I found it before the deadline was up, because it would have been a tragedy to have missed an hilarious and charming children's book like this one.
Max is a fearless cat, as all cats are of course. He's black with huge eyes, perky ears and a swishy tail which doubtlessly twitches in anticipation. It's nice to have a super hero of color for a change! He hates to be dressed up in bows. His one real ambition in life is to chase mice, and possibly eat them if he has the time and it doesn't prove to be too much trouble. Unfortunately his education falls short of this ambition. He has no idea what a mouse looks like and consequently is left in the rather embarrassing position of making plaintive inquiries of any creature he encounters in his quest. If there's one thing cats cannot abide (apart from getting wet), it's being embarrassed.Since the animals he encounters are largely honest, bless their little furry and feathery socks, he eventually hits upon the mouse trail, if not tail, but what he doesn't know is that the resident mouse lies - like a dog in fact - and worse than this, directs him to the neighborhood monster, the cat now operating under the tragic misaprehension that the creature is the mouse! I loved the word play on 'Gulp" at this point.
I recommend this story for the sheer fun of it and the cute drawings. Everybody loves an adventurous quest story and this is a fun one that children will want to hear again and again. This is definitely a worthy read!
