Tiptop Cat

by Roger Mader, Roger Mader (Illustrator)

Overview

A curious cat plus a big fall leads to squashed confidence. How this cat bounces back will encourage readers everywhere to try, try again. Eye-catching art and crisp graphic paneling invite even the youngest of children to get back on their feet to explore the city alongside TipTop Cat. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544465558
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/18/2014
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD430L (what's this?)
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

“Let the story come to you” is a tip on writing that Roger Mader was once given. This one came to his door in the form of a scrawny little gray and white cat. In wondering where she had come from, Roger wrote his first story for children, Lost Cat, and the new arrival modeled for his illustrations. A former creative director in an international advertising agency, Roger now lives in the Normandy countryside with his French wife, Martine, and Pete, the little cat who adopted them.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/06/2014
Every cat owner knows how much felines love to perch, and Mader’s self-possessed, black-and-white hero has found the best perch of all: the chimney tops of his owner’s Paris apartment building, where he enjoys killer views of the Eiffel Tower. Showing the same attention to feline behavior demonstrated in his debut, Lost Cat, Mader often uses multiple frames and panels to track the cat’s wanderings, mingling precision and sly humor in his pastel images. A wrong step in pursuit of a pigeon almost puts an end to it all: in a sequence of funny-scary images, the cat tumbles down story by story, past a pianist, a woman doing a yoga headstand, and a transfixed beagle before falling through an awning and into the arms of a well-positioned greengrocer. “Nothing was broken except... his spirit,” writes Mader, but with some unintended help from a like-minded connoisseur of vistas, the cat is soon “on top of the world again.” With knowing, understated narration, this is storytelling at its most elegant. Ages 4–8. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

*"Mader's fine use of pastels and apt choices of detail, surfaces, and light and shadow provide storytelling and viewing sure to be widely enjoyed." —School Library Journal, starred review * "Another winning tale of feline misadventure." —Booklist, starred review * "With knowing, understated narration, this is storytelling at its most elegant." —Publishers Weekly, starred review    —

From the Publisher

★ 09/01/2014
PreS-Gr 3—Mader makes smart use of the picture book form to convey the daily life and dramatic mishaps of a city-dwelling cat. A familiar sort in many neighborhoods, this black-and-white feline, expressive and unnamed, arrives in a new home. "Of all the gifts she got that day, the best one was the cat." Long strips of small pictures follow the cat's exploration of the rooms in his new home. Oh, look! These cozy bits open to a dramatic view of the place he likes best—the balcony. This is a fine, tall apartment building, and from the balcony the cat can get to the rooftop. The varied pages of small and large scenes convey the cat's doings so effectively that this could actually work as a wordless book, but the spare text adds humor and drama. Every day, the animal climbs all the way to his favorite spot "on top of the world." High atop a robust red brick chimney, he gazes out on a crowded city with the Eiffel Tower off in the distance. The balcony/rooftop peace erupts one day with the arrival of a pigeon ("A little jungle beast awoke within the cat."). Alas, the cat's leap for the bird leads to his plunge "down…down…down." Humans make their only appearance with the cat's landing in the arms of an astonished street merchant and the subsequent visit to the vet for an x-ray. "Nothing was broken except…his spirit." The cowering feline and his subsequent varied hiding spots are a funny anti-climax, lasting only until the day a crow shows up on the balcony ("and that inner beast stirred again."). Mader's fine use of pastels and apt choices of detail, surfaces, and light and shadow provide storytelling and viewing sure to be widely enjoyed.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

School Library Journal

2014-09-14
A Parisian tale inspired by a real-life feline. An unnamed black-and-white cat is given to a (mostly unseen) girl as a gift. Balloons, ribbons and confetti suggest a birthday may be involved, but the focus shifts immediately to the cat as he inspects his new surroundings and makes himself at home. In a series of nearly wordless panels, he checks out cozy spots to nap, perch or hide and experiments with climbing. First it's furniture (the bathroom sink, an armoire), then he ventures outside and jumps from the balcony to the neighboring roof and beyond. The cityscape reveals that the cat lives in Paris, which may or may not resonate with young readers, depending on whether they recognize the Eiffel Tower. A chance encounter with a pigeon results in an accident that wounds the cat's pride and curbs his excursions until a second unexpected meeting with an avian interloper restores his sense of adventure. Small touches of humor reward careful observation. Mader's use of multiple panels interspersed with double-page spreads provides a sense of momentum, but the brevity of the text can feel choppy, particularly when paired with the relatively static pastel illustrations. Despite believable action and attractive pictures, this feels more like an amusing anecdote than a full-fledged adventure. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews