View source for I am Cat (mini edition) by Jackie Morris

{{infobox1
|title=I am Cat (mini edition)
|author=Jackie Morris
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Emerging Readers
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9781847805072
|pages=32
|publisher=Frances Lincoln Children's Books
|date=February 2014
|summary=Almost scandalously small, this reprinted picture book has both a heart and intelligence.
|cover=Morris_Iamcat
|aznuk=1847805078
|aznus=1847805078
}}

You're always supposed to tell when a dog is dreaming – the twitching limbs and jerking joints allegedly proving the sleeping Fido is imagining himself on the chase.  Cats are, as always, a bit more secretive, but [[:Category:Jackie Morris|Jackie Morris]] offers evidence here that they are more or less thinking the same thing – even the domestic moggy, curled up and closed in, is picturing a different self – one sleeking through snows, relaxing on the savannah or alertly moving through its territory.  It's a very pleasant view into the mindset of cats.

It's a very small view, in this edition.  I always riled as a child that pocket books were actually too big for pockets, but this reissue isn't.  What would have been, and perhaps should still be, a large glorious picture book is now a small gift, wrapping its gentle words and poetry in wee hard covers.  It's still big enough to contain two parts – the cat telling us of its dreams, as I say in a poetic manner – never naming each species of cat specifically, but engaging us with its situation; and an appendix where the characters are described and drawn more scientifically.

I'm not sure the images in the main body of work are that brilliant – I'm no cat owner, or artist, but for me the eyes stood out as working more effectively than the rest of the figures.  I did like the quiet intelligence of the words, making this a great choice to use to introduce blank verse to a child, as well as perhaps biology as regards the family life of cats, and evolution – why does the cat dream of such contrasting kin?  But you don't have to use this book, specifically, beyond the sheer enjoyment of it, and the simple, low-key wording makes for an affecting little work.

I must thank the publishers for my review copy.

We seriously enjoyed the author's more recent [[Song of the Golden Hare by Jackie Morris|Song of the Golden Hare]] - let's hope it stays in the large format!

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