Paris Cat

K-Gr 2–While her immense extended family spends much of its time loudly squabbling, Cat wants to see more of the world. She slips into a crowded café on a rainy night and decides she can sing as well the performer (Edith Piaf). The crowd does not agree, and Cat ends up sleeping in a dressmaking studio. Inspired by the seamstresses, she crafts her own outfit from the scraps and heads out to a nightclub where she becomes the toast of the town as a dancer with Josephine Baker. Despite her fame she misses her family, so she opens a nightclub; but she’s still a restless cat with nine lives who loves exploring, so don’t expect to find her there very often. Hofmeyr’s story is chock full of details that are adroitly depicted. Grobler’s inimitable style of line drawings and watercolors are fun, colorful, and ideal for the tale. Endpapers show a tourist map of Paris and an afterword contains short, kid-friendly bios of Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker.