The Cozy Home: Three-and-a-Half Stories (Bat, Cat & Rat #1)

Dyckman (Don’t Blow Your Top!) and Teague (King Kong’s Cousin) empathically kick off a picture book series about saucer-eyed, sweetly goofy Bat, bibliophile Cat, and jokester Rat, who together move into the dormer-windowed house of the title. Sculptural acrylic paintings show the characters blossoming as both vivid personalities and visual presences in the shared home. Across the chapters, the trio discovers that ostensibly simple declarative expressions—“Sharing is nice!”; “Joking is fun!”; “Reading is THE BEST!”—reveal a range of individual experiences and expectations. In the first story, the characters’ dibs-calling has the potential to create a domestic conundrum. The second explores whether all forms of humor are amusing for all. And in the third, Cat’s frustration with Bat and Rat’s peering at her book reveals that neither pal can read, resulting in a successful collaborative effort. Subtly but effectively, the book’s veteran creators show that mutual understanding is worth working for, even when it requires ceding some of one’s own assumptions. Ages up to 8. Author’s agent: Scott Treimel, Scott Treimel NY. (Feb.)