My House by Byron Barton (review)

An orange cat named Jim takes readers on a brief tour of the house in which he lives with his owner, Jane. The tour covers exterior features (roof, door, windows) and interior areas, including Jim’s bed (a human bed which Jim claims by reclining across it) and his (clean) litter box. Jim has an amiable and kid-friendly voice, and his narration is informative but also amusingly feline-centric (“Jane makes my dinner. I like Jane”). The very short sentences and simple vocabulary make this perfect for a toddler or preschool audience but also accessible to beginning readers. The bold, blocky illustrations, created in Adobe Photoshop, are childlike in their rendering, and the vivid hues of purple, red, orange, yellow, and green could have come straight out of a box of Crayola crayons. Stripey orange Jim is a fetching guide to these gentle proceedings, and cat-loving kiddos will find this installment in Barton’s oeuvre especially attractive. Share this as part of a house-themed story hour, use it along with other Barton titles (My Bus, BCCB 6/14, etc.) in a preschool author study, or enjoy it as a precursor to a house-building session with Legos or blocks—accompanying cat is optional but recommended.