Homer the library cat by Reeve Lindbergh

Ill. by Anne Wilsdorf. Walker Books, 2011. ISBN 9781 4063 3656 6
(Age: 4+ ) Warmly recommended. Picture book. Verse story. Homer loves his house, it is quiet and his owner is quiet. When she goes to work each day he is all alone in his quiet house. He lets the mice play with his ball of wool, and purrs when he sees a bird. But one day he is startled by a loud noise and jumps from the window. Alone in the street he searches for somewhere quiet to sleep. He tries the post office, but the workers sneeze, he tries the fire house, but when the sirens go off he rushes out. He finds a carriage on the railway track, but along comes a locomotive that needs repair, so he rushes into a building he does not know. It is a library and there is his owner, reading stories to the children. Each of the illustrations shows Homer finding a neat place to sleep but being bundled out of it for some reason.
Told in rhyming stanzas the rhythm and rhyme of the words will gather the listeners in as they wonder at how Homer will find a quiet place to sleep. Read out loud, this will be a wonderful story for younger readers and with the illustrator including books on nearly every page there is lots to look at for them as well. For the National year of Reading, 2012 (Australia) this has come at an apposite time and will be well used by teachers, parents and librarians to promote libraries and reading.
Fran Knight