Meow!

by Victoria Ying, Victoria Ying (Illustrator)

Overview

"Ying's expressive, anthropomorphic feline family is utterly endearing, and small humans will easily recognize themselves. A charmer."—Kirkus

Meow? Meow? MEOW!

Meow! is a charming, mostly wordless picture book about a feisty young kitten who gets frustrated when her family is too busy to play.

Featuring expressive art and sparse text, this fun read-aloud will allow parents and kids to creatively tell the story by expressing just one word in lots of different ways. This sweet and clever picture book is sure to charm readers through to the final purr.

Perfect for fans of the New York Times bestselling They All Saw a Cat, Spot, the Cat, and all cat lovers!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062440969
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/03/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Victoria Ying is an artist with a background in animation. She is the illustrator of Not Quite Black and White and Lost and Found, What’s That Sound?, both written by her brother, Jonathan Ying. She lives in Los Angeles and enjoys car rides with her dog, Buster, and being at home with her cat, Boots. Visit her online at www.victoriaying.com.

Victoria Ying is an artist with a background in animation. She is the illustrator of Not Quite Black and White and Lost and Found, What’s That Sound?, both written by her brother, Jonathan Ying. She lives in Los Angeles and enjoys car rides with her dog, Buster, and being at home with her cat, Boots. Visit her online at www.victoriaying.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/21/2017
Using only slight variations of the “meow” of the title as dialogue, Ying (Lost and Found, What’s That Sound?) follows an anthropomorphic gray kitten around his house as he looks for someone to play with. “Meow?” says the kitten imploringly to his parents and older sister, holding out a yellow ball of yarn. Their preoccupation with other activities sends the kitten into a funk (“mrreow...”), and he angrily unspools the yarn all over the house. A time-out (“Meow!!” say his mother and father, pointing emphatically to a small chair) and a mewled apology let everyone reboot. Younger children should appreciate the idea that just because others don’t want to play right at this moment doesn’t mean they never will. The cute-as-a-button characters and soft, furry textures of Ying’s digital paintings never become sticky-sweet, perhaps because she has a way of turning the cat’s large eyes into black pools of fury. She also gets excellent mileage out of her “meows”—readers will relish how many emotional shadings a single word can have. Ages 4–8. Agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

2017-07-02
Won't anyone play yarn ball?A little black-and-white kitty asks an adult cat in a dress to play, but she's too busy gardening. Similarly, another adult cat, this one in spectacles and an apron, is occupied in the kitchen and can't play. A slightly larger kitten with a yellow bow over one ear is far too engrossed in a book to play. Little kitty is despondent and acts up, running all over the house with the yellow yarn trailing behind. It's tangled in the chandelier, the table legs, the chair legs, the family's legs! That makes everyone angry and earns the little puss a timeout. (The adults show their teeth a bit here.) The tot apologizes and, with some help from the older sibling, rolls all the yellow yarn back up. Then the wee one assists each family member with the task that was interrupted (even joining older sibling in the chair with the book)…and then everyone has time to play eight-pawed cat's cradle before bath and bed. In the final image, the little kitten snuggles down with the yellow yarn ball and purrs. Ying's expressive, anthropomorphic feline family is utterly endearing, and small humans will easily recognize themselves even though the tale is told entirely in pictures and meows (and one purr). The digitally created illustrations appear painted, and young kitten lovers will be able to tell themselves the story without worrying over words. Meow meow purr meow (translation: a charmer). (Picture book. 2-4)

Kirkus Reviews