cover image Tex & Sugar: A Big City Kitty Ditty

Tex & Sugar: A Big City Kitty Ditty

Barbara Johansen Newman. Sterling Publishing (NY), $14.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-4027-3887-6

In this rhyming tale, two cats from different country towns decide to trade in their ordinary lives and follow their hearts to the big city. Singsong verse conveys the desire of each to be a musical superstar (""Sugar packed up her suitcase/ and hung up her lasso./ Here I come, Broadway!/ Farewell, El Paso""). Painstakingly applied brushstrokes depict every nook and cranny of the busy cityscape, emphasizing just how small and insignificant each cat feels in a city of millions (""Tex begged all the networks to give him a spot./ But a gig washin' dishes was all that he got""). Just when each thinks all hope is lost, the two cats find each other-and their way-the little something extra they needed was each other. Two reaching for the stars together outweighs going it alone. Ages 4-up.