TWO CAN PLAY

Cat and Puss have different ideas of what’s fun.

Cat plans their garden and asks Puss to help—“It’ll be fun”—but Puss thinks “working together” sounds like anything but; she’d rather play. Cat goes off to dig the whole garden by herself. Puss watches from a nearby tree, reflecting that “digging look[s] like hard work.” Cat asks Puss if she wants to help pick out seeds. No—but when Cat goes to the store, Puss sneaks along to watch, thinking the activity “might actually be a bit fun.” Puss won’t help plant the seeds or help scare the birds…but she’s always watching from different hiding places. Puss won’t even help in harvesting or cooking. She does, however, suggest that she help with the eating. Rather than answering directly, Cat asks Puss, “What do you think?” Puss sadly goes off to do the washing up since she does not feel entitled to eat. Cat, of course, points out eating as well as washing up are “far more fun” together. It turns out that storing food for winter together is “the best fun of all!” Young readers will recognize in Sturton’s tale a mellow recasting of “The Little Red Hen.” Orange Cat wears a green bow atop her head and green shorts and boots while blue Puss sports a yellow tutu; they inhabit a colorful, pastel world of anthropomorphic animals.

A cheeky little lesson in a fine feline fable.