MY LAZY CAT

Fat cat Boomer shows the way to a perfect day.

“This is Boomer. / Mom found him on our front porch one day, / fast asleep and spread out like a pancake.” When Boomer, who looks like a fuzzy brown pear with short, stubby legs, is brought inside, he wastes no time in becoming the young, white narrator’s best friend. He has fantastic purrs and gives “the best hugs,” but he’s also “a slug, / a sloth, / a slacker.” The narrator, on the other hand, keeps busy with judo, swimming, yoga, painting, pottery, knitting, soccer, and baking…until on the way out the door, Boomer snoozing on the carpet occasions a mammoth fall. Things go flying all over the room. Tears threaten, but they become laughter, and then Boomer shows the narrator his day: lounging on the grass under a pine tree, watching fish and frogs in the pond, eating tomatoes and berries in the garden, and napping under the cherry tree. When Mom and Dad ask what she did all day, the answer is a simple “Nothing.” But the narrator’s smile says it was a perfect day. French author/illustrator Roussey, co-creator of the Growing Hearts series with Jo Witek (In My Room, 2017, etc.), presents a portrait of a friendship and a celebration of slowing down. Her goofy, bright illustrations are childlike in their simplicity but full of details to search through during a quiet read.

A fine and restful “nothing.” (Picture book. 2-7)