04/01/2024
“Life wasn’t always this easy for Butter- scotch,” writes Savage (Moonlight) as a digitally rendered spread shows an orange cat basking in the sun streaming into a comfy living room. In a brief flashback, readers see Butterscotch as a frightened stray, “lost and alone and scared,” until she’s coaxed by a child, portrayed with pink skin and dark hair and holding a cat toy, into a safe, warm home. Now, Butterscotch decides to pay that rescue forward. In a nature program shown upon the living room’s big screen—depicted with a clear line style that offers a bold visual contrast to otherwise soft, sponge-painting-reminiscent textures—a lion cub is in danger of being eaten by a crocodile. Butterscotch cowers momentarily, then “instead of running from danger, she ran toward it!” bounding through the screen and attempting to scare the croc with a mighty “Meeeew!” When that doesn’t work, the toy that once saved Butterscotch beckons again, and both cat and cub leap into the safe, warm living room, where they share a nuzzle before parting ways. Maybe cats aren’t so inscrutable after all, hints this picture book—maybe they’re just caught up in their own vivid emotional lives. Ages 3–6. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Book Group. (July)
"Feline heroism faces down its most formidable opponent in this romp through the wild side." — Kirkus Reviews
"Savage is so reliable; add this to the shelves where worn copies of Polar Bear Night and Supertruck live." — School Library Journal
"Maybe cats aren’t so inscrutable after all, hints this picture book—maybe they’re just caught up in their own vivid emotional lives." — Publishers Weekly
"The simple text blends seamlessly with the illustrations, creating an adventurous story of one brave little cat." — Horn Book Magazine
06/01/2024
PreS-Gr 2—In what is sure to be a favorite juxtaposition of text and art this season, Savage's new book opens on a lazy orange cat, blissed out on a pillow, surrounded by cat toys and a ball of blue yarn, with a big screen TV behind her. Then the tough-guy intro: "Life wasn't always this easy for Butterscotch." Readers see the moment a small child, porcelain skin and black hair, dangles a feathered cat toy from a window and "rescues" Butterscotch from the streets where she'd been feeling lost. Taking her role as a rescue cat seriously, Butterscotch leaps into the TV screen at the first sign of danger to others, say, a lion cub wandering too close to water and to crocodiles. The digital art, which at this point had been soft-edged and fuzzy in feeling, takes on the hard lines of a coloring book as Butterscotch roars at the croc, and the croc roars back. The small child with the black hair leans into this other-side-of-the-screen world, guiding Butterscotch and the cub to safety, pointing out the value of the "off" button on the TV remote. This is such a concise picture book, crisp in the telling and execution, with one idea to lure readers in, like the feathered cat toy that lures in Butterscotch. VERDICT Savage is so reliable; add this to the shelves where worn copies of Polar Bear Night and Supertruck live.—Ginnie Abbott
2024-04-05
A newly brave stray cat takes the term rescue cat a little too seriously.
Buttercup’s life is lovely, what with her kitty bed, toys, and loving owner, but things haven’t always been easy for her. Before she was taken in by a light-skinned, dark-haired human, she lived on the street, often feeling lonely and afraid. Now she has everything she could want. One day, while watching a nature documentary, she sees a lion cub approached by a crocodile, and though she’s afraid, she decides she must do something. A quick leap into the television screen and she’s facing down the angry croc and saving the cub. After all, she is a rescue cat. The book makes it infinitely clear that simply because someone is afraid of something, that doesn’t mean they can’t also be brave. Savage alternates his artistic style between a palette replicating the look of pastels and paints when depicting the real world and the clean-cut, cartoonish vibe of the world through the television set. Kids will undoubtedly see hints of similar courage in their own kitty cats, even as they appreciate that Buttercup’s “roars” always turn out to be “mews.”
Feline heroism faces down its most formidable opponent in this romp through the wild side. (Picture book. 3-6)
