SILLY CAT AND FRIENDS LAUGH AND PLAY

In Abrams’ illustrated series children’s book, a housecat and his assorted animal friends engage in games and hijinks.

“A handsome young kitty named Silly, / had fur just as white as a lily”—that is, until he rolled in mud and “ran through the house willy-nilly.” Whether he’s playing croquet with his best friend, Dainty Dog, and others, or a game of hide and seek with a green-eyed bug, fluffy Silly Cat is always up for mischief and adventure in this whimsical chapter book. Abrams—whose previous cat-centric kids’ books include Silly Cat and Friends Frolic Boldly (2021) and the Adventures of Spicy series (2015-2018)—uses rhyming text to tell short, unconnected stories of Silly Cat and his friends. In a chapter titled “The King of String!,” for instance, Silly Cat plays with a ball of string “with all the frenzy strings can bring”; in “That Jay Is Ray,” blue jay Ray relates how he improved his bedraggled appearance with a feathery toupee to impress his lady love. Dainty Dog has her moments, too, most notably when she finds herself “in a fog” as a captive audience for Cousin Truck, a polliwog and a notorious “conversation hog.” With words such as dialogue, polliwog, agog, and monologue, the author enjoyably keeps this rhyming pattern going for several pages. In Vagreti’s polished full-color illustrations, the expressions of Dainty Dog and loud-mouthed Cousin Truck are a hoot. The lavish images are a pleasure throughout, and clear, large text alternates with indoor and outdoor scenes rendered in fine-lined detail that highlights individual characteristics of each featured creature (and Silly Cat’s kind human caretaker, Grammie). “Interlude,” an ode to a brown bat named Bingo, offers a gentle departure; Bingo and friends track insects, including a comically alarmed mosquito, in a starlit sky “with / a high-pitched cry, / to feast upon the vast supply.” The cat-savvy author and illustrator dedicate the book to “all the fur babies / who have been a part of our lives. / We love you forever.”

A book with lively rhyming text and humorous characters, enhanced by charming, fully realized illustrations.