The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC's (the Hard Way) by Patrick McDonnell

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC's (the Hard Way) by Patrick McDonnell Elizabeth Bush McDonnell, Patrick The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC's (the Hard Way); written and illus. by Patrick McDonnell. Little, 2017 [42p] ISBN 978-0-316-50246-7 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R 3-7 yrs Why would a cat comfortably ensconced on a puffy floor cushion want to run away? Because the door is open, of course. Making a joyful break for it on his two hind legs, Cat runs right into the first harbinger of an alphabet with attitude, Alligator. Alligator is pretty startled to find himself pursued by Bear, who has managed to stir the ire of Chicken. The quartet is so alarmed when they run across Dragon that Chicken lays an Egg. And now the chase is on in the nonsensical fashion kids may associate with "Going on a Lion Hunt": slipping over Ice, swinging through a Jungle, running over Mountains, Parachuting over a cliff, stopping at a Restroom. The weary parade of Tired travellers is finally stopped by a King and his daughter (who spied them running by the castle way back at K), who greet them with Valentines and a special X-marks-the-spot map to lead Cat safely home, where he Yawns and catches some Zzzs. The madcap dash plays out largely without words in fairly minimalist illustrations, with scratchy black outline and some splashes of watercolor suggesting rather than detailing the rapidly changing terrains through which the creatures run, and leaving plenty of space to feature the letter that controls the scene. McDonnell recaps the letters and implied words at the story's end, but there aren't any real stumpers—just the pure pleasure of retelling this manic romp, using the alphabet/illustration combo as cue cards along the way. [End Page 503] Copyright © 2017 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois