Snow Job! Skippyjon Jones, Snow What? by Judy Schachner

"WE NEED TO PICK A BOOK!" SAYS MAMA.

"SNOW WHITE!" GUSHED THE GIRLS.

When Mama Cat calls her kitties to come in out of the snow for some catnip cocoa, her kitty BOY, Skippyjon Jones, can't take the girly stories his sisters Jezebel and JuJuBee choose. He cuts out and flees to his room.

HE HOPS OVER TO HIS MIRROR, AND USING HIS VERY BEST SPANISH ACCENT, HE SAID:
"MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL,
WHO IS THE HANDSOMEST CHIHUAHUA OF ALL?

OH, MY NAME IS SKIPPITO FRISKITO... (CLAP! CLAP!)
AND I KNOW AN OLD FUZZY TALE-ITO.
IT'S GOT PLENTY OF FIGHTS,
AND NO ONE WEARS TIGHTS!
AND THAT'S THE BEST PART, MIS AMIGOS!" (CLAP! CLAP!)

And it's through the looking glass (actually through his closet) for Skippyjon, who morphs into his adventurous alter ego, Skippito Friskito, and joins his Chihuahua poochito pals, rescue dog-searching for a certain famous, well-cooled princess. But when it comes to the cure for the hyper-chilled heroine, this pooch is smooch averse!

"I'M NOT KISSING SNOW-BODY!" HE DECLARES.

Skippyjon leads the poochitos in a really cool winter romp, in which Skippito Friskito has to go back on his boast, ironically coming up with his own best beso, a kiss to release the icy princess from her spell.

"DUDE, JUST KISS THE CUBE!!" URGE THE CHIHUAHUAS.

Judy Schachner's Skippyjon is always good for a South of the Border-flavored fantasy adventure in Chihuahua land, this time in el heilo (the snow). There's a blizzard-ito of bilingual puns and kid-pleasing rhymes and the usual Skippyjon limerick song to keep the tail-itos wagging in this latest kitty boy tale, Skippyjon Jones Snow What (Dial Press, 2014), all done up in a chilly blue and white palette to set the wintry scene. More chuckles for fans of that Jones boy! "Both feline hero and story are full of beans (more Mexican-jumping than pinto) but ay caramba, mucho fun," quips Kirkus Reviews.

Cat on the Go: City Cat by Kate Banks

Wake up, City Cat. It's dawn....

City Cat heads for the street.

City Cat scales rugged walls.

She romps through ruins set in stone and cuddles in a hidden place where she won't be found.

As a family loads their car for a sightseeing vacation through Europe, their cat appears to take French leave herself, strolling down the street in the way cats do, vanishing while her family is busy tying luggage on top of their car.

City Cat has her own itinerary, one which gives her time to hang out with the notorious cats of Rome's Coliseum and explore the ruins, blending in with the resident felines while tourists snap photos all around.

Hitching a ride with unsuspecting travelers in a red car, City moves on to Marseilles and Barcelona, and takes a river barge as it meanders into Paris.

Floating, boating.... Where are you drifting, City Cat?

This cat waltzes by the street cafes and surveys the rooftops of Paris from her perch on a gargoyle among the spires of Notre Dame and then crosses the Channel to study Big Ben, London Bridge, and the Beefeaters at Buckingham Palace.

City Cat is on the run
from the morning mist
and the baffled sun hidden by the fog.
She squints into a smoky sky
and sees a tower rising high.

From London she stows away on a packet to the Netherlands, where she takes in the sights from a canal boat bound for Munich, the site of a merry family wedding, and floats down the canals of Venice, just in time to be reunited with her family, homeward bound.

Tired, City Cat naps in the car atop a well-used city map, and when she wakes...

It's home again!

Cat owners whose pets have disappeared and reappeared later, none the worse for wear, often wonder where they have been and what they must have done during the self-sponsored sabbaticals. Kate Banks' latest, City Cat (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2013), features a carefree, footloose feline who visits the iconic sites of the Grand Tour on her own, finding a novel cat's-eye view of those famous tourist scenes.

Banks' narrative is lovely and lyrical, ending cozily with the cat and her boy in his own bed, dreaming their own dreams of their wanderings. Lauren Castillo's illustrations, done in rough-textured charcoal line and precise but charming detail with splashes of warm shades of color, make the sights of Europe both familiar and unique. Castillo's illustrations offer added fun by providing occasional glimpses of the cat's family on their more structured parallel tour of the same sites, with the cat keeping just out of their sight. Back matter offers thumbnail sketches and information about each of the places through which City Cat has padded during her travels, with a map of western Europe to document her trek for the geographically minded

Pair this one with Banks' companion book, The Cat Who Walked Across France, a sweet story of a cat who knows that there's no place like home.

Best of Enemies: Here Comes Trouble by Corinne Demas

EMMA'S DOG TOBY DOESN'T LIKE CATS.

Sure, Toby is a grown-up, sophisticated pooch. After all, he’s been schooled! He’s a certified obedience school graduate and knows the rules. But there was one elective he didn’t master–canine-feline relationships.

And when Emma’s family offers to take care of the neighbor’s cat Pandora while they’re on vacation, Toby is not on board with the mission. Pandora is everything he dislikes about her species.

PANDORA WAS... SLINKY AND SPUNKY

AND SNOOTY AND SNOBBY.

WORST OF ALL, SHE DIDN’T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO TOBY.

Not that Toby doesn’t try. Throwing all his education to the winds, Toby misbehaves, big time! He spreads the contents of the garbage can all around. He runs out to play in traffic. He even digs up the new daffodil blooms. But Pandora is underwhelmed.

Toby ups the ante. He laps from the toilet bowl. He chews up Pandora’s toy mouse right under her nose. Maddeningly, Pandora ignores him still.

Not that Pandora is all that well-behaved herself. Aptly named for that ordinary box capable of all kinds of mischief, this cat is trouble, as Toby soon learns.. But when she misbehaves, ripping the drapes and shredding the stuffing out of the sofa cushions, nobody seems to notice. Toby is outraged! And then, when Pandora snacks on the pink-iced layer cake in the kitchen and slinks off proudly pink-pawed with the evidence all over her whiskers, Toby just has to be proactive, hopping up on the counter to show Emma just what that furtive feline has been up to. But Emma concludes that Toby is the one to blame, and Pandora gets off scot free–again!

And then Pandora climbs a tree and can’t get down. And... only Toby notices. At first he’s happy to think of that troublesome cat cooling her paws in the treetop all night.   But then... Toby’s good heartedness urges him to take some action, and young readers will love the clever way Toby puts his schooling to good use to call attention to Pandora's plight.

It’s another installment in the long-standing feud between felines and the canine world, in Corinne Demas’ latest, Here Comes Trouble! (Scholastic, 2013). As in her earlier Toby title, Always In Trouble, there’s a somewhat surprising ending to her well-told tale that will give kids a giggle and Pandora her well-deserved comeuppance. Noah Z. Jones’ comic illustrations, with their wiggly black-line outlines and flat color are just right for this piquant little story, and kids will be left looking forward to more Toby and Pandora tales.

And for more stories in the long-running cat vs. dog saga, pair this one with Mark Teague’s hilarious and excellent Dear Mrs. LaRue (Letters from Obedience School) and sequels.

Meowy Christmas? Charlie and the Christmas Kitty by Ree Drummond

"WELL, HOWDY!

Charlie the Ranch Dog here, reporting from the country.

Things have sure been busy around here these days. This evening for instance, I'm bringing this great big TREE into the house.

Well, I'm helping anyhow."

Charlie the Ranch Dog is top dog around the ranch, to hear him tell it. Actually, Charlie's chief talent is napping anywhere, anytime... most of the time. But when he's awake, he is a keen observer of doings around the ranch, a legend in his own mind, who keeps everything moving along around the spread.

"I'M THE BEST CRITTER CHASER, FENCE FIXER, AND FISH CATCHER IN SIX STATES.

MAYBE SEVEN."

And there is plenty going on as the whole family pitches in to get ready for a Western Yuletide. The tree goes up and decorations follow all over the house.  Charlie supervises and gives a nod of approval. With things under control, he feels duly justified in corking off for some celebratory shut-eye under the tree.

But Charlie's nap is cut short suddenly.

"HUH? WHAT DID I MISS? WHAT IS THAT NOISE?

IT'S A...IT'S A....?

IT'S A...RABBIT?

I THINK IT'S A...  KITTY!

WHAT IS A KITTEN DOING ON MY RANCH?"

Charlie is totally flummoxed by the introduction of this new entity in his formerly stable world! A kitten is NOT a ranch hand sort of critter. Charlie tries to ignore the fuzzy interloper in hopes that the family will see that a kitty is totally out of place on a working ranch.

But as we know, kittens have their ways of charming even a crusty, grumpy, self-important Basset hound, and when the kitty climbs up and begins to knead Charlie's old back, his resistance melts like a Christmas snowman. And, as the last page suggests, the kitten is not the only new Christmas critter coming into Charlie's life. In Ree Drummond's sequel to her best-selling Charlie the Ranch Dog, (see my review here), our Charlie calls a truce with the Christmas kitty just in time for Walter, a new Basset hound pup, red ribbon around his pudgy little neck, to make his final-spread cameo appearance page right.

Drummond's latest, Charlie and the Christmas Kitty (Harper, 2012), triumphs over a well-worn plot with the considerable help of Diane DeGroat's illustrative skills. Managing to set her comic dogs and dang cute kitty cat into a vivid but realistically portrayed Western ranchhouse setting, DeGroat carries the ball here, keeping cuteness well under control while creating a Christmasy scene of great charm. There is no doubt that Charlie is going to be breaking in his new ranch dog sidekick in an upcoming sequel, enlivened again, we hope, by Diane DeGroat's art.