BRs: Inside Cat, Wenzel; Cat Problems, John; Tumford..., Tillman; Cats Vanish Slowly, Tiller

"Bad picture books about cats" is a very specific niche but some of these books are from ... 2021 ... so. I have got to stop grouping reviews/being behind on posting reviews/whatever is the excuse for whatever this is; anyway, these are awful, except for Tumford the Terrible, which is just weird and mediocre. I always struggle to read about cats: too personally invested, can never overlook outside cat problems, and cats have a prominent & often misrepresented/mythologized role in the cultural consciousness, which is an awful combination. On the other hand, Gág's Millions of Cats exists. There was a copy of that in the little free library haul that also gave me Tumford and Cats Vanish Slowly; thus does hope spring eternal.


( Inside Cat, Brendan Wenzel )

( Cat Problems, Jory John )

Title: Tumford the Terrible
Author: Nancy Tillman
Published: Feiwel & Friends, 2011
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 515,605
Text Number: 1872
Read Because: hardback from a little free library (someone was getting rid of cat-themed picture books? thanks, someone)
Review: I've read some strange picture books, and this is in the running for the strangest. Not in a good way. The art is photo edited/collage absurdity of a chubby cat in galoshes; the text has a didactic young reader message, but the wording is overlong, but the tone is singsongy to the point of obnoxious. And all of it clashes with the surreal art. The result is a chaotic mess that misses its intended age range while still failing to appeal to adult readers, so, not great; but Tumford himself is fun.

( Cats Vanish Slowly, Ruth Tiller )

Margaret Wise Brown: Bumble Bugs and Elephants, Night and Day, Two Little Gardeners, Fox Eyes

Title: Bumble Bugs and Elephants: A Big and Little Book
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Clement Hurd
Published: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2006 (1938)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 508,535
Text Number: 1830
Read Because: reading Margaret Wise Brown, borrowed from Open Library
Review: This was too young for me. It's probably suited to its audience, but the lack of narrative also means a lack of movement and wonder. But I do love Hurd's art, the lineless style and limited color palette belying a surprising complexity of shapes.


Title: Night and Day
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Leonard Weisgard
Published: Harper & Brothers, 1942
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 508,575
Text Number: 1831
Read Because: reading Margaret Wise Brown, borrowed from Open Library
Review: A white cat who loves the day and a black cat who loves the night try to win each over to their side of the argument. I struggle with picture books about cats for the usual reasons (not true to cats; idealizing outdoor cats), but when I can compartmentalize a little, like here, they also charm me. Weisgard's art is fantastic—I'm a sucker for picture books with minimal use of color and a lot of movement and texture, and this is that: the round, sweet silhouettes of cats set against daytime and nighttime scenes, vibrant and diverse, and I even like how Weisgard draws people! MWB has a knack for the dark and for brief, evocative descriptions ("The night was soft and dark around them. And the silence was big in their ears."); for engaging fear and setting it aside without condescension; and with endings—a story about how everything has its own unique beauty ought to end with both cats loving both times, but, no, night wins out, the night world quiet and all their own, and I love that for them.


Title: Two Little Gardeners
Author: Margaret Wise Brown, Edith Thacher Hurd
Illustrator: Gertrude Elliott
Published: Golden Books, 1951
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 25
Total Page Count: 508,600
Text Number: 1832
Read Because: reading Margaret Wise Brown, borrowed from Open Library
Review: Two child-gardeners plant and tend and harvest a vegetable garden. It's hard to imagine this in any other style: MWB is at her very most detailed-list-of-things here, and Elliott's art is similarly intricate, carrot by carrot, cabbage by cabbage. Cute, certainly dated, this has strong teachable vibes and not much actual story, but I also kind of love it for its charm and its unerring commitment to the concept.


Title: Fox Eyes
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Garth Williams
Published: Pantheon Books, 1977 (1951 for the Carlot)
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 508,630
Text Number: 1833
Read Because: reading Margaret Wise Brown, borrowed from Open Library
Review: A fox causes consternation by spying on the secrets of his neighbors. The weird cover art is almost indicative of the tone, here: Williams's illustrations are desaturated neutrals and shadows shot through with the distinctive red of the fox, a delightful contrast; but his fidelity is slippery, a little comic, a little uncanny, despite the fluffy, soft textures. MWB's depiction of the world and its secrets is evocative in that simple, precise, playful way she has: "Even his rabbit smell was frozen to no smell, as he crouched there, invisible as something that does not move or smell or look like much." Her endings are often surprising, and this is no exception. An inadvertent trickster, the foolish, cunning of a fox settles down with his secrets and forgets them posthaste. A weird one! It feels a little off-kilter, but intentionally so.

I wish I could read the Charlot edition, since I loved his work so much in Two Little Trains; from the few spreads I could find, it has a totally different atmosphere, minimalistic line illustrations the secrets, the fox's changing face a bold, saturated splotch of color in reaction to each one.