SAMMY IN THE SPRING

Sammy the cat takes a stroll outside with his stuffed horse, Hob, to admire springtime sights.

First Sammy puts on his shoes and socks, then ventures out to ride and walk over grassy knolls sprinkled with small flowers as birds and bunnies look on. He rides a succession of vehicles from a (pink) bicycle (sans helmet) to a “nice tractor,” gently wakes a family of sleeping hedgehogs, goes on to plant garden seedlings, then returns home for dinner. The simply phrased narrative and bright, sunny domestic and outdoor scenes are printed on card stock with rounded corners. Each double-page spread is also furnished with half-page flaps that conceal not twists or surprises but simply predictable next moments in the outing. There is one minor bobble (probably a glitch in the uncredited translation from the original Dutch): For “dinner” Sammy “eats tomatoes, cucumber and bread,” which U.S. readers are likely to feel sounds a lot more like “lunch” or “snack” and which omits the slice of Swiss cheese that’s clearly visible on the bread. Nevertheless, this offers no real stumbling block to enjoyment of the seasonally themed ramble.

Bland in comparison to the exuberant likes of Anne Sibley O’Brien and Susan Gal’s Abracadabra, It’s Spring! (2016) or Karen Katz’s Baby Loves Spring (2012), but sometimes that’s just the ticket.