Is That My Cat? by Jonathan Allen

Is That My Cat? by Jonathan Allen is about a cat who has suddenly become lazy and fat.  

Is that my cat?
It can't be.
My cat is a slim,
sleek pussycat.

Is that my cat?
It can't be. 
My cat is a little cat
who leaps in and out 
of the cat flap.

Is that my cat? 
What happened to the
light little cat I could 
pick up with one hand?

Is that my cat?
It can't be.
My cat is a fussy 
eater who never
finishes her food.

And so forth.  The cat has gotten round and heavy, is eating more, sleeping a lot, not so great at hunting as she used to be, can't climb a tree very well, etc.  Then the narrator (a little boy) hears her purring in the closet and . . . 

IT IS MY CAT,
and she has kittens.

Is That My Cat? is a book that I feel a little squirmy about.  My husband says it's silly to feel that way, since the book is directed at very small children. But, basically, you have an unspayed kitty running around outdoors and getting pregnant. Most people don't keep the kittens their cats give birth to and a lot of animals are put to death due to the sheer quantity of unwanted domesticated animals, so I feel strongly about spaying/neutering -- knowing myself, I'd probably preach about that while reading the book, even to a really small child. 

However, I'm sure that's absolutely not the point (hence my husband telling me to quit fussing over the spaying issue and look at the book for what it is). The point clearly is to show little ones that when a cat has kittens, the mama cat changes and that is definitely something the book does well. The final pages:

Are they my cats?
YES, THEY ARE!

Recommended - Great for showing small children where kittens come from and how a mother cat changes before giving birth. The illustrations are wonderful - big, bold, colorful with happy faces on both the young boy and the kitties:

I received a copy of Is That My Cat? from Sterling Children's Books, unsolicited. Many thanks! I adore children's books and am tempted to cut out the kittens and laminate them to make bookmarks (don't worry, I won't . . . but they're totally adorable and just the right size).

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