The Three Little Kittens

PreS-K–A well-loved Mother Goose rhyme gets some modern updates by award-winning author McClintock (Emma and Julia Love Ballet). The story is told in a playful melding of picture book formatting (large, colorful illustrations with bold text) coupled with voice balloons, giving it a comic book vibe. Most of the nursery rhyme’s original text is preserved, but now we get to hear the dialogue among the three naughty kittens and their long-suffering mother. When the little imps find their lost mittens, they joyfully cry out: “Watch out, pie! Here we come!” Later on they must interrupt their mother chatting on her cell phone to confess that they’ve now soiled said mittens. Note that McClintock’s version has a much happier ending than the original, in which the mother smells “a rat close by.” In this iteration, mother smells a mouse (who the reader has spied throughout the book) who is quickly asked to join the pie feast and is even invited to stay after and play.