Monsieur Chat by Jedda Robaard

Five Mile Press, 2017. ISBN 9781760405007
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Loneliness, Cats, Friendship. When Monsieur Chat comes into their lives, the long days for Pierre and Josephine become less lonely. The cat joins Josephine for breakfast, then goes upstairs to Pierre's flat for dinner. Each of the neighbours is happy with the cat in their lives, little realising that Monsieur Chat visits each of them in turn. But one day he does not appear. Josephine and Pierre search the apartment house where they live. They go around the building, up and down the stairs, out into the cold and wet night, but the cat is nowhere to be found. Without warning they find him together and so the two are lonely no longer and have all their meals together with Monsieur Chat with them for company.
A simple story nicely told will have readers enrapt as they follow the cat's exploits in bringing the two together. As they search the cat can be seen on the pages by the audience, who will shriek with laughter at knowing something the other two do not. The cute water colour illustrations give a good impression of an apartment building in Paris, and children will learn a little of city life in the story.
The lift the flaps publication will intrigue readers longing to lift the flap on each page to see what is hidden beneath.
Fran Knight