School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Best friends since birth, Cat and Bunny do everything together, from eating lunch to riding bikes. They are inseparable until the day Quail asks to join in their special "Made-Up Game." Bunny cheerfully agrees, but Cat is reluctant. When more and more children join in, Cat slinks away. As she sits under a tree, hoping that Bunny will come and get her, she meets a new friend-a real kitten. As they are playing a new Made-Up Game with a ball of yarn, Giraffe asks to play, and so does another friend and another. Soon, all of the children-including Bunny-have gathered to play, and all strife is forgotten. Dainty pencil and watercolor illustrations on white backgrounds imbue this story with playfulness and light. Though it's not entirely clear why the children are depicted wearing animal suits a la Anne Geddes, their attire adds extra whimsy to the ordinary but entirely relatable tale about the ever-changing nature of friendships.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Lundquist's sympathetic debut introduces inseparable friends, one in a zippered cat costume and the other in a white, long-eared bunny outfit: "Right from the start, they did everything together." The title page pictures them swaddled among other infants in a variety of animal onesies. Cat and Bunny progress from binkies to tricycles to playgrounds, always a duo and always in their coverall suits. When Quail, a child dressed as a bird, asks to join them in their play, "Cat wasn't sure. Bunny said, `Yes, of course!' " Bunny welcomes several children into their group and soon "was having too much fun to notice... when Cat ran away." Lundquist ably suggests that an exclusive friendship can be stifling to one person and an anchor for the other. In amiable watercolor and pencil drawings, she pictures all the children in hooded animal costumes, a visual strategy that lets her conceal characters' genders; this story, she implies, could be about anyone. While developing independent identities and adjusting their expectations, Cat and Bunny demonstrate how to admit new friends into a tight circle. Ages 4-8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
