My Lazy Cat

A girl realizes that her “slacker” of a cat might be on to something in a story aimed at overscheduled children and the adults in charge of those schedules. Roussey’s scrawly, scribbly lines show a girl in red boots with a mass of dark hair. Her cat, Boomer, is the size of an armchair: “He gives the best hugs.” But she’s a busy child—“I have judo, swimming, yoga, painting, and pottery. Knitting, soccer, and biking with my friends”—and lazy Boomer sometimes gets in her way when she’s in a hurry: “Boomer is lying on my art project!” But in the story’s quiet second half, Boomer “wants to show me something.” Sometimes, the cat’s lazy saunter into the garden suggests, it’s better to do nothing. “We plop down in the grass and look at ladybugs.” A backyard pine tree teems with animals—a squirrel, a bat, two birds exchanging sweet nothings. Cat and girl look in the pond, eat berries, and doze. The story’s slowing pace and emphasis on observation remind children (and their parents) that relaxing means letting go to watch and listen. Ages 3–6. (Nov.)