4 out of 4 stars
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What's the best part of the internet? Access to free knowledge on a whim? Being able to talk to people across the world with a few button presses? Nah, it's definitely the adorable animal pictures and (usually) hilarious memes!
Isabel Wants to Patty-Cake by Ale Lukaszew combines two of my loves into one 32-page book: children's books and kitties! Isabel is an adorable little kitten that occasionally looks derpy in the best of ways. The book begins with Isabel going to her new home after being adopted, and she immediately looks around for someone to play patty-cake with. In the process, she learns that the toilet paper roll makes a mess when she plays patty-cake with it, that the other kitties around are busy or don't want to play, and that even the adults are too busy watching TV or on their phone to play with her. Will she find someone to play with, or will she always feel a bit out of place in her new home?
This is an absolutely adorable children's book for early readers. As soon as I saw that it used photos of the author's real cats and family I was sold on it, but the story itself quickly goes from random silliness to sweet playfulness. Until I was about 70% of the way through the book I assumed this was one of those children's books with no deeper meaning, but then it hit hard all at once.
I appreciated that Isabel Wants to Patty-Cake doesn't force any rhymes. In fact, it doesn't rhyme at all! Instead, the text is free to say whatever it wants without any awkward phrasing. I also really liked that the story works as an introduction to all of Isabel's family members. Ophelia is a loner, Spooky just wants to relax, and Santiago is bossy. We're even introduced to Isabel's human family members, and it was rather refreshing that the author didn't try to make themselves a big part of the book. Instead, the only interaction Isabel has with Ale in the book is when Ale is too busy watching TV or getting ready to go out.
Isabel Wants to Patty-Cake is a really adorable children's book. It's a no-brainer for parents of children who love cats, but it's also a great choice for those who want to teach their kids about friendship. I only saw one grammatical error: "He bosses everybody!" should have been something like "He bosses everybody around" or "He's the boss!" The rest of the book is well written and both the text and images are easy to see. Without any other negatives to mention, my rating is 4 out of 4 stars!
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Isabel wants to patty-cake
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