Pivotal Kids Book

In a series of 10 haiku, Gravdahl (The Tale of Dog Giovanni) follows an inquisitive black feline (named Nosy, according to her food bowl) as she chases a butterfly and other flying creatures along a Golden Gate-like suspension bridge. Dodging painters and maintenance workers, the cat scrambles across cables and up towers, occasionally stopping to savor the commanding views of the bay. Rendered in creamy pencils and gouache, Gravdahl's framed, mostly single-page illustrations possess the dynamism and strong graphic feel of WPA murals. He distills Nosy down to an aerodynamic sleekness-underscored by a neon-blue outline-but in her crouching and stretching, and in the way her ardent eyes follow her prey, Gravdahl proves he's a keen student of real cat behavior. The haiku doesn't quite measure up to the pictures, but it's serviceable in narrative terms. Still, children will enjoy the syllabic computation that goes into these poetic snapshots, and when Gravdahl hits the mark, he's good fun: "Watch out and look up,/ stripes and lights bring a warning./ Flat cats are no fun!" appears opposite a steamroller. Close observers will detect that Nosy lives on a boat, and her captain-owner doubles as a bridge worker. A visual treat.

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