Tag: Children’s Book

Written in verse (a welcome relief from the constant narrative prose of current picture books) the book has many charms. The rhymes are, for the most part, tight and advance the story well. Kids like rhyming books.

Keith really likes pigeons. He doesn’t sit, move, or behave like other cats, especially the super-judgy Nigel and Hilda (who may or may not be his cat siblings). He longs to hang with the pigeons, protests for pigeon rights, yet scares the pigeons with his cat-like appearance. In turns, he tries to be like the birds and tries to be like the cats, and ultimately finds kinship and self-acceptance for being “a Keith.”

When Olivia’s mom calls her by her nickname/pet name, “Mouse,” she turns into a mouse. Therein begins an adventure as Olivia suffers through a series of unfortunate situations in which to metamorphose from a kid into a mouse.

This is a clever, fun book that took the premise way further than I expected. However: I would build some parental explaining time into your read. This is the kind of book where your kids get more from it as they grow and learn.