Posy by Linda Newbery and Catherine Rayner

Posy by Linda Newbery and Catherine Rayner
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Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: For all cat lovers aged three to a hundred and three the story of Posy's day told in rhyme is a delight. If you haven't got a cat then this book could convince you that you really should! Highly recommended.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: April 2008
Publisher: Franklin Watts Ltd
ISBN: 978-1843629900
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I've got a new best friend. She's called Posy.

Posy is a kitten and her fur is that wonderful mixture of black, brown and cream that we call tabby. Under her tummy, all four paws and her face look as though they've been dipped in a bowl of cream, which, knowing Posy, is quite possible. She's still finding out about the world, you see.

She's a…

…whiskers wiper,

Crayon swiper.

And already we can see that Posy is going to get into trouble as blue crayon marks scrawl their way across the cream surface. But that's nothing once she gets hold of the ball of pink knitting yarn:

Playful wrangler,

Knitting tangler.

There's an exciting day ahead for Posy and Linda Newbery sums it up perfectly in simple rhymes. I'm in awe of her way with words whether she's writing for adults, teens or the three-to-five age group as here. Always perfectly pitched and never patronising, she makes it all look so simple, so easy, but it's a perfectly-honed skill which produces:

Sandwich checker,

Board game wrecker!

The illustrations by Catherine Rayner combine perfectly with the text. She captures Posy's essential fluffiness and her kitten-like qualities. There's an unsophisticated look to Posy, with dabs of paint, crayon scribbles and a nose that looks suspiciously like a thumb print, but it works wonderfully well. Compare Posy with the sleek elegance of the marmalade tom cat with not a hair out of place and the skill in both becomes obvious. She catches expressions well – the imperious look of the ginger tom or the contented mother and kittens asleep are good examples.

Children who like cats will love this book. I'd put the age group at three to a hundred and three. There's a certain danger in giving it to a child who doesn't have a cat – the parents are almost certainly going to be nagged into getting one. I'm a dog rather than a cat person and found myself wondering if it wouldn't be quite pleasant to have a cat about the place. Fortunately two large dogs and common sense intervened.

Posy will become a classic and it's well worth buying as a hardback as it's the sort of book which will be passed on – or down to the next generation. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy.

For another classic cat book we can recommend Mog the Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr. If you would rather that your child nagged you into getting a dog than a cat then might we suggest I Don't Want a Posh Dog by Emma Dodd?

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