Roger Mader

This is a beautifully illustrated book about a cat who gets a new home and loves exploring it. He especially loves climbing up to the roof and looking out at the Parisian skyline. However, he falls one day after chasing a bird and afterwards become quite nervous about venturing out anyplace. Will the little cat be able to regain his fearlessness?

I love how the book contains numerous illustrations per page, all impeccably painted. This allows the author/illustrator to easily show the cat's early independence and later trepidation in a variety of situations without having to rely too heavily on the text. Overall, the book is pretty light on text, using just enough to tell the story and no more. This is useful for read-alouds with very young children (with very short attention spans) and for beginning readers. The "getting back up on the horse" theme is nicely done without being preachy.… (mehr)

A cat finds himself in a brand new home. He wanders around trying to get a feel for the new house. He quickly finds the balcony, and discovers the highest point of the building. The cat enjoys the view, and enjoys it even more once he sees a bird. He goes to pounce the bird, and ends up falling off the building. The cat is upset after the fall, and now only hides in the house. He no longer wants to go outside because he is scared that he is going to fall again. This is all until one day when he sees another bird on the balcony, and pounces to get it. In this moment, the cat gets over his fear, and returns to the highest point on the building.

The is a good story about overcoming your fears. The illustrations were great, and looked very realistic. Some of the illustrations were split up into different boxes, and depicted multiple scenes on one page. Overall, this is a great book to share with kids, as it is both entertaining and uplifting.… (mehr)