DRAT THAT FAT CAT!
by Pat Thomson & illustrated by Ailie Busby
This fresh version of “Fat Cat” features lots of rhyming words and an infectious chorus. A smiling tiger-striped kitty, already chunky-looking in Busby’s bright, unfettered cartoons, sets off down the road in search of food. Swelling as he goes until he crowds the edges of the page, he downs in succession a rat, a dog, a duck, and an old lady—“But was that cat fat enough? No he was not!” Learning the true meaning of indigestion after gulping a bee, however, he hiccups up his tummy’s irritated occupants with a loud, “Meow, ow, ow!” and goes off with the old lady to fatten up on less contentious provender. Destined to be a story-time favorite, this is the most engaging rendition of the tale since Jack Kent’s 1971 classic. (Picture book/folktale. 4-7)