Crazy about cats by Owen Davey

Flying Eye Books, 2017. ISBN 9781911171164
(Age: Primary school) Highly recommended. As the title suggests this book gives you information about cats, mainly concentrating on the wild cat species. Did you know there are 38 different types of cats in the world? This book has large amounts of beautiful illustrations and infographics surrounded by bite sized amounts of information.
The 34 chapters (which are double page spreads) include the different cat species, hunting for food as well as weird and wonderful facts. There are some fascinating references to cats and mythology as well.
Crazy About Cats has a perfect balance of information and visuals for primary school aged children. The setting out of the facts using infographics make the book both informative and easy to read. I particularly like the diagram showing the comparison of different cat sizes with a human.
The colour palette for this book is stunning, with the author/ illustrator using warm colours with muted greens. This makes the book a visual treat. The illustrations themselves are slightly stylised and are more like works of art. The end papers are just as attractive as the rest of the book.
The author has also produced two other books in this series, using alliteration for their titles as well. They are Mad About Monkeys and Smart About Sharks.
This is a book you can go to for information but also read just for the compelling way it has been created. A visual joy from the beginning to the end.
I highly recommend this book for primary school students and suggest it should be in every school library collection.
Jane Moore