The Scaredy Cats - Hardcover

Barbara Bottner is the author and illustrator of more than twenty books for children, including Bootsie Barker Bites, illustrated by Peggy Rathmann, and the early reader books, Marsha Makes Me Sick and Marsha Is Only a Flower, illustrated by Denise Brunkus. Ms. Bottner resides with her husband, Gerald Kruglik, in south Florida.

PreSchool-Grade 2-Mr. and Mrs. Scaredy Cat wake up shivering, but closing the window means taking the risk of smashing their fingers, so they stay cold. Their fears escalate with each everyday activity-they skip breakfast because cooking might lead to burns, and they can't drive to town because the car goes so fast. They won't let Baby Scaredy Cat wear her new dress ("it might get a stain that will not come out"), and they even refuse to open the package they get in the mail, for fear of its contents. The miserable day continues into night, until finally Baby Scaredy Cat asks: "-if all kinds of things can happen, can good things happen too?" And so the three go to bed and dream of being braver the next day. Bottner's serious tone is a perfect counterpoint to the increasing ridiculousness of the Scaredy Cats' fears, and Chess pushes the story from funny to hilarious with her watercolor depictions of the wide-eyed, terrified felines. This delightful tale humorously makes the point that the greatest risk in life may be in not taking one.
Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Maryland School for the Deaf, Columbia
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