THE COZY HOME

Odd housemates adjust to extremely cramped real estate.

Moving into a two-room house, Bat, Cat, and Rat agree that “sharing is nice” but immediately claim their own space. Cat takes the upstairs room, while Rat opts for the one downstairs, leaving only the under-stair closet (shades of Harry Potter) for Bat. When Bat happily exclaims that “UNDER the stairs is THE BEST!” the friends look skeptical—until they see Bat hanging upside down in the cavelike space. In the second story, practical jokester Rat scares Cat with a rubber spider. Bat pretends to eat it, scaring Rat. Alone, Bat repeats Rat’s dubious claim: “Joking is fun!” The third story finds Cat cozily settled in a chair with a book. When Cat accuses Rat and Bat of trying to sneak peeks, they admit shamefacedly that they can’t yet read. So they share the chair and “read their very first word: ‘HAT!’” It turns out that “reading together is the BEST EVER.” In the underwhelming final entry (referred to as “story #3-and-a-half”), for unclear reasons, all three cram into the bare closet to sleep; it doesn’t look at all cozy. The larger-than-life, upright, anthropomorphic animals are set mostly against plain backgrounds; they’re personable rather than cute. The simple language is ideal for burgeoning readers, though the jokes are rather one-note.

Easy-to-read stories that strain to be amusing.