This Poky Little Kitten Isn't So Shy After All

One of my favorite books as a young'un was The Poky Little Puppy, a Little Golden Book about a pup who always lags behind, getting into all sorts of adventures as a result. Cathleen Schurr's The Shy Little Kitten, another Little Golden book, reads much the same way.

We are told that the protagonist of this tale is shy, but he doesn't particularly act it. If anything, he, too, is poky. I guess the difference is that the kitten hangs back out of hesitation, while the puppy does so just because there is always something else to investigate. Still, this story strikes me as very similar.

The shy little kitten gets separated from his family and meets up with several creatures: a friendly mole, a funny frog, a cheeky squirrel and a helpful dog. Eventually she gets back, just in time for a very uncattish picnic featuring such delicacies as water bugs and cabbages. Several of the animals in this book wear clothes, but the cats don't, nor do the animals the kitten encounters on her walk.

The illustrations are of the typical Little Golden Book type, with a very distinct and old-fashioned look about them. The cats are black and white, and from a distance this kitten looks the same as her siblings, but up close we can see her stripes, not to mention her bright yellowish-green eyes.

The bright green frog with his leopard spots, striking yellow eye and wide open mouth is an entertaining sight, and I love the page in which the kitten and puppy look out over the farmyard, which lies placidly below them, almost reminding me of the map of the Hundred Acre Wood. My least favorite picture is the next page because it doesn't gel with the text; we're told the cats reunite in the middle of the farmyard, but the illustration clearly shows them in the hayloft.

The Shy Little Kitten is a cute little book, but I think the characterization is a bit off. Aside from the narrator mentioning repeatedly that the kitten is shy, there's not much to indicate that she is. It's too much telling, not enough showing, so it's not as engaging as it could be. But especially young children should be able to get decent mileage out of this book; if nothing else, they'll love the colorful pictures, and most likely they won't be too shy to say so.