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Mr. Wuffles! is a nearly wordless science fiction book about a cat who is more interested in playing with a tiny spaceship full of aliens than with his cat toys. Mr. Wuffles stumbles upon this metal object, playfully batting it with his paws. The aliens flee the damaged spaceship and hide in the radiator. There they make insect friends, fix the spaceship together, and make a plan to outsmart Mr. Wuffles!
This illustration emphasizes the size difference between Mr. Wuffles and the spaceship. Mr. Wuffles towers over this metal object, and we generally associate size with strength (Bang, 72). One of Molly Bang's principles argues that "one of the easiest ways to make a protagononist - or a threat - appear strong is to make it very large" (Bang, 72). The size difference causes the reader to view the cat as a threat. There is also a sharp contrast between the cat and the spaceship created by the use black, grey, and white. Mr. Wuffles has mainly black fur, while the spaceship is a light shade of grey that makes the two stand out from each other. The cat's face and sharp claws also appear very close to the spaceship which can create a sense of worry for the reader. Often in illustrations, the center of the page is the center of attention (Bang, 62). In this picture, the middle of the page shows the cat's big, yellow eyes staring directly at the spaceship. Overall, this illustration adds anticipation to the story.
Some of the illustrations in this story are comic-style panels. Wiesner also used a hieroglyphic language for the aliens, which he invented himself. This language is full of geometrical shapes and mathematical symbols. Because of the very few words present in this book, Wiesner created a detailed story, but left it for the readers to develop. Wiesner clearly put detail into the facial expressions and body language of the aliens. They have worried expressions on their faces which is made apparent by their wide eyes and open mouths. Some of the aliens are also pictured crowding around broken pieces of the spaceship and conversing. The bottom comic panel shows the aliens secretly watching Mr. Wuffles, who is just a daunting black figure. This goes back to Molly Bang's principle of the center of the page being the center of attention. Wiesner drew the cat in the center of the bottom comic panel to draw attention to its presence (Bang, 62). These comic-style panels build suspense and let the reader know how the aliens are feeling.
In these comic-style panel illustrations, we can see fearful aliens cowering under the shadow of Mr. Wuffles' paw. Diagonal lines can give a feeling of movement or tension (Bang, 22). In the top panel of this illustration, the cat's paw is a diagonal line that gives the illusion of blocking or trapping the aliens. The aliens are also brightly colored shades of red, blue, and green, so they stand out from the more muted background. These images demonstrate the aliens' fear as Mr. Wuffles attempts to attack them.
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