B-122

Michelle Meadows and Sawyer Cloud

One of the ways the current Beginner Books editors are honoring the history of the line is by using the same creators and characters for multiple books. Since the revival of the series in 2019 we've gotten two books from Bob Staake and his changeable lizard, as well as a two-book revival of P.J. FunnyBunny by Marilyn Sadler and Tim Bowers. 

Joining the club with How to Love a Kitten are Michelle Meadows, Sawyer Cloud, and Lily. Following up on 2023's How to Love a Pony  this story follows Lily as she finds a mother cat and four kittens under the porch. Lily's family takes them in, discovering that the mother cat was a house pet. While they try to find her owner, they take care of the kittens. In the end, the mother cat is reunited with her family, and Lily gets to keep two of the kittens. 

One of the ways the current Beginner Books editors are ignoring the history of the line is releasing cute rhyming books like this one. Ted Geisel despised cuteness.  And he was very particular and exacting about the use of rhyme. He wanted it to have "get-up-and-go," a  rhythm that would be irresistible to the young reader.  How to Love a Kitten's verse is competent but so uniform as to be lulling.  And while limited vocabulary has long been a thing of the past for Beginner Books, it's still frustrating to see it completely ignored. A verse like "The country vet / comes on the scene / to check the kittens / and the queen" seems simple to an adult reader, but has many difficulties for a new reader. Not only does it use an idiom ("comes on the scene") that young kids are likely to be unfamiliar with, the anchor rhyme ("scene") requires knowledge of both the "soft c" and "silent e" rules. And the use of the word "queen" to refer to the mother cat is odd even for a sophisticated reader. 

This is not meant as a criticism of Meadows and Cloud (by the way, could their names be more complimentary?). They worked within the current editorial parameters of Beginner Books and very much accomplished what they set out to do. I'm sure this book will be loved by its target audience.