MEOWSTERPIECES

What can kittens learn from great art?

“Come walk along with Mama Cat / and tour the works of art. / Inside each frame you’re sure to find / your own creative heart.” Mama Cat has some lessons for her kittens (and young humans), and she imparts them in rhyme as she describes 13 great works of visual art reproduced on double-page spreads with felines in place of the original humans. On a spread depicting Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (in which an orange-and-white cat stands on a shell covered in strands of yarn), Mama Cat urges her kittens to embrace the praise and adoration of humans. On a spread portraying Rembrandt van Rijin’s Night Watch, she tells young cats to be bold and have great adventures. And Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks spurs her to encourage the youngsters to tell tall tales of their adventures. In her first foray into children’s book illustration, artist Nyangsongi inserts her plump, adorable, happy felines into the great works. She doesn’t mimic the brushwork of Vincent van Gogh or Georges Seurat, but the inspiration of each spread will be obvious (to adult readers). Bailey’s rhyme bounces along through each lesson with the tone of a loving, reassuring mama cat. This attractive volume has just one misstep; out of 13 works, only three are by artists of color—Laura Wheeler Waring, Katsushika Hokusai, and Henry Ossawa Turner—and only one is by a woman (Waring). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Certain to spark a love of art (and giggles) in feline aficionados.