“Refined... is another word for elegant,” and Oliver the cat is both as he stands in front of the mirror adjusting his bowtie. “Do you think this is naughty?” he asks as he continues to talk about himself. Young readers, well warned, might say yes, it really is naughty to talk too much about yourself. Then cool cat Oliver agrees, “You are probably right.”
These stories of Oliver cat and his friends Jumpy the kangaroo, Molly the mole, Ducky the duckling, and even little Joey, are told in a nicely chatty style, more for reading aloud than for a small child to read. They give the flavor of a favorite grandpa or uncle telling stories to a young child. There are “worms and bugs” for lunch and nice tidbits of information about what different animals eat, plus the polite way to say no. But my favorite tale invites young readers to think of how babies change lives, and how a baby joey lives inside its mother’s pouch.
Pictures by Marvin Alonso are bright and cheerful, zooming in on the action to emphasize different characters. My favorite image is probably the one where Jumpy holds ducklings in her pouch and Oliver gives them rides on his back (because he’s allergic to eating birds).
Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy and I offer my honest review