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Reviewed by:
  • I Am a Cat by Galia Bernstein
  • Sarah Sahn
Bernstein, Galia I Am a Cat; written and illus. by
Galia Bernstein. Abrams,
2018 32p
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4197-2643-9 $16.95
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-68335-180-1 $15.26
R 4-6 yrs

Every house cat knows it's just as ferocious and dignified as a lion or a tiger, but chubby gray tabby Simon is having some trouble convincing the big cats that he's just like them. "You don't look like you can run very fast at all," Cheetah observes. "I know fuzzy little rabbits that look tougher than you," Puma says. There's a touch of genuine biology in this low-key humorous text, which has a pleasing folkloric structure and formality in its tone. Bernstein's soft-edged digital illustrations will delight cat lovers. Brown, orange, gray, and black cats lounge across spreads, with only an occasional tree branch or a few tufts of grass giving shape to clean white [End Page 193] backgrounds. Simon and his big cat counterparts are hilariously expressive, from the big cats' flummoxed faces when Simon declares that he, too, is a cat (just before they burst into laughter on the next page) to Simon's indignant glare when he points out that he has pointy ears, a flat nose, a long tail, and sharp claws just like the rest of them—"Only smaller." An even mix of longer blocks of text on some pages with only one or two lines on others makes this a good choice for early independent reading, but readers-aloud won't want to give this one up, with its dialogue-heavy text perfect for an animal-themed storytime. SS

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