Felipe and Claudette

Teague (Jack and the Beanstalk and the French Fries), who often wields scale and texture to great comic effect, is fully in his element with this tale of portly, imperious cat Felipe and Claudette, a hot mess of a mutt. They’re the dregs of the animal shelter: adoption days come and go and they’re always left behind, much to their chagrin and that of Mrs. Barrett, the kind shelter director. Even worse—for Felipe, anyway—Claudette thinks the cat is her BFF. Felipe responds with disdain (“I will not throw your little ball. It is covered in spittle. Anyway, cats do not throw”) and snarky advice (“You will never be adopted... as long as you have dried dog food stuck to your nose”). Then one day Claudette is adopted, and suddenly the shelter’s odd couple is down to one very sad cat. A happy ending is in the cards; along the way, readers should get a kick out of two characters who are larger than life and Teague’s clever repetition and ripe-for-reading-aloud text. Ages 3–5. [em](Mar.) [/em]