Inside Cat, written and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel. Chronicle, Raincoast. 2021. $23.99 ages 4 and up

 

"Inside cat knows many windows, 
finds a view wherever it goes. 

Wanders. 
Wonders. 

Nibbles.
Naps. 

Knows what's hiding in the gaps."

Brendan Wenzel uses many materials (watercolor, acrylic, pencil, crayon, cut-paper and more ...) to tell this story of an inside cat, the building where it resides, and the amazing world outside its windows. These windows hold pride of place for both the cat and those who read its story. What an adventure in perspective! 

In an earlier cat book, They All Saw a Cat (2018), readers saw that particular cat from wide variety in mindset. In this one, it is the cat that is looking. It is able to see the world outside through the windows of its cat-shaped home (a fact not known until the end of the book). Outside is all bright colors; inside is pale washes of faint blue. What the cat sees is impacted by what is known about the outside world, and the condition of the windows it uses. 

"Glass all dusty. 
Glass so streaky. 
Glass gone gloomy. 
Glass way freaky. 

Glass all bubbly. 
Glass got broken. 
Glass that's blocked
and glass wide open."

What is out there? Is the cat brave enough to venture beyond its windows into the world it has only seen from the inside? Rich and detailed, you will want to read this more than one time. Each time you will see something new.