The Bookstore Cat
I wanted to buy a book for my little nephew, the son of my childhood friend. So what better than an alphabet book that teaches you with drawings of bookstores and cats?
In the forward, Busby explains that The Bookstore Cat is based on an old parlor game where you take turns describing the minister's cat with the next letter of the alphabet. So we learn that the bookstore cat is cuddly, intelligent, patient, sleepy, etc. (He's also sometimes bossy, naughty, and zigzaging - he's got some life in him too!)
We see a typical day-in-the-life, from the cat demanding breakfast as the shop is opened to getting hugged goodnight at the end of the day. In between, he lounges around the shop, watching the customers, occasionally getting jealous of the attention being paid to a cute dog tied up out front.
Charles Santoso's illustrations are a nice mix of cartoony roundness and realistic texture and detail. I don't think they're done in colored pencil, but they have a similar feel. My favorite image is the cat being 'regal' posed in front of a book with a crown on its cover so that it hovers just above the cat's head.
Hopefully, my friend's son will enjoy having it read to him too.
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