Starred Review The frowning, brown cat with black stripes sits alone, eats alone, and is considered grumpy by other cats. He certainly looks grumpy. One stormy night a tiny, orange kitten shows up, wet and soggy. Kitten ignores Cat's glare, following him about, rolling on her belly, picking her way behind him on a picket fence. Cat climbs a tree to rid himself of his shadow, but Kitten stays right behind. Then, while trying to balance on a thin branch, she slips. What's a grumpy cat to do? This more than satifies the requirements for an outstanding picture book for the youngest listeners. The characters are appealing, the story is short and linear, and the ending is warm and satisfactory. But the highpoint is the art; graphically inspired, textured, and large in scale, it can be enjoyed from a lap or the back of a room. The format is focused, with the two felines always the center of attention, ensuring children's allegiance to the cats, each with its own wants and needs and both totally appealing.

Not knowing how to make friends, Cat spends all of his time alone until a powerful thunderstorm deposits a bedraggled kitten at his feet. Using every beguiling behavior Kitten can muster, she single-mindedly pursues a friendship with the elder cat. Cat's best instincts rise to the fore when he rescues Kitten from a branch too slender to hold her weight. Cat cements their burgeoning relationship with a few reassuring licks and a fresh fish. "They had each found a friend. And Cat was never grumpy again. . . . / Well, almost never." Too predictable and sweet? No, because very young children facing a critical developmental task—being brave enough to make friends—should find this perfectly on target. The large trim size and the illustration's bold forms and vibrant colors make this perfect for group sharing. With luck, children will find the drama so engrossing that they will not notice the inconsistencies in Cat's facial markings: Sometimes Cat has four stripes on the right and three on the left and sometimes they are reversed. (Picture book. 2-4)

PreS-Gr 1 Grumpy Cat isn't really grumpyhe's just lonely. He wants to make friends but doesn't know how. When he meets a lost, playful kitten, he almost misses his chance to befriend her by walking away. The kitten's cheerfulness almost comes to naught, until a near accident causes Grumpy Cat to save her. From there the path of true friendship runs smooth. This is a simple, familiar story greatly enhanced by bold, colorful illustrations on large areas of white space. Teckentrup creates remarkably expressive characters with a few select colors and, in particular, use of white space within the eyes. The uncluttered layout keeps readers focused on the interaction between the two cats so that even when they are small creatures in a big world, they are the center of attention. This is a winningly attractive book that will have broad appeal. Join it with Judith Byron Schachner's The Grannyman (Dutton, 1999) and Sam Lloyd's Mr. Pusskins (S & S, 2006) to celebrate feline friendship. Kara Schaff Dean, Walpole Public Library, MA