If you like cats you need Try and Stop Me by Jeffrey Brown (due late March – early April 2027). If you don’t like cats, first: go away, we can’t be friends; second, why not? And finally, that’s okay there is a put-upon puppy in the book as well and since the cat of the story is a cat-hole like most cats are, you’ll be loving that the cat is a cat-hole and not some superhero or something.
The idea is simple: Cat does what cats do: knock things over, off of stuff, puts its butt up, and down on stuff. There is the cat narration, “I am going to do this, so what are ya gunna do about it? (now pet me….enough!)” Was and repeat….
The illustrations are the cover, with a few more details. The cat is the focus (especially on the page it is the entire page) and the colors are what you see: brow, cream and black. It is not WOW but they are clever, not unique but something that makes them fresh. I think it is more the fact that while I agree that cats want to take over the world one box at a time, I still love them, so I’m biased for cats, so images of any sort tickle my fancy.
I read this book via an online reader copy. I do not think I will necessarily add a physical copy to my library, but if I need a unique gift for a cat-loving friend (who won’t believe his cat is a fluffy baby stinky butt giving me the stink eye) it might find its way to him.
