I Don't Want a Cool Cat!

The sure-minded heroine from I Don't Want a Posh Dog! returns, this time in a search for the perfect feline companion. Cats may be more likely than dogs to irritate their juvenile owners, and Dodd's catalog of feline faults will parallel the cat peeves of many children. "I don't want a cool cat./ A treat-me-like-a-fool cat," the narrator, who sports a pink A-line dress, white socks, Mary Janes and a chin-length bob, declares. Dodd uses big, graphic shapes and bold outlines with patchwork collage elements to show a haughty Siamese cat stretched out full-length on a tufted couch, while the girl sits in the only space that's left—the cat's bed. On another spread, a ridiculous blimp of a calico cat squeezes through a pet door as the girl stands ready with a can opener and a dish of food: "I don't want a greedy cat,/ A ‘Meow, meow, please feed me' cat." When on the final page the girl ends up with a loveable little kitten ("Not a scratch or scrap cat./ A curl-up-in-my-lap cat"), readers will rejoice with her. Simple, unalloyed cat fun. Ages 3–6. (Aug.)