Two Picture Books #ReadingtheMeow2025 – Literary Potpourri

Today, I have for you reviews of two sweet picture books, one from a series I’ve read before and a second, standalone. The first is a simple book following the Cat Family across the various seasons of the year, with lovely art; the other, which I just came across earlier this week incorporates a more valuable sentiment, that of appreciating stillness. Though when I think of it more carefully, both books are about noticing the things around us, at one level.

Cat Family: FOUR SEASONS (2025) by Lucy Brownridge and Eunyoung Seo

My thanks to Frances Lincoln Books for a review copy of this book via Edelweiss

Writer Lucy Brownridge and Illustrator Eunyoung Seo are back with another in the lovely series of Cat Family picture books. These are very simple books, perfect for their intended readership usually giving one a brief look into the activities of the Cat Family comprising Mummy and Daddy Cat and kittens Pip, Sorrel, Bud and Lupin, with Grandma and Grandpa cat visiting off and on—in the first book as they prepare for Christmas from making puddings and goodies to buying presents and in the second as the kittens visit the museum with Grandpa and Grandma, each wanting to spend time in a different section. Their town is not simply cats but a range of animals from sheep to pigs and rabbits, all anthropomorphic.

In Cat Family: Four Seasons, as the name makes clear, we get a glimpse of the activities of the Cat Family in each of the four seasons. As spring sets in, we have sunny mornings and birdsong, the scent of daffodils in the air and the kittens spend time in the garden. New life (calves, piglets, lambs) is celebrated with a picnic, and Grandpa and Grandma visit while the fair is on. In summer, there are holidays in school, made fun by a visit to Grandma and Grandpa and a camping trip with the Fox Family. Autumn sees the kittens back at school while the leaves turn to gold and the first chestnuts appear. Then there’s winter with Christmas and New Year (also much more but I’m just mentioning the broad things).

The pages related to each season evoke the sights, smells, and moods for each be it the scents and sounds of spring, the excitement of a train journey and beach treats from sand-castles to shell-collecting and ice-cream and camp songs in summer; the turning of the leaves and Halloween costumes in Autumn as also preparations for the approaching winter (chutneys and crumbles and much else being cooked), and the cold of winter made warm by the celebrations and the hot chocolate.

These are simple, pleasant reads for children which they will very much enjoy but what makes them stand out both for their target audience and older readers like myself is the lovely artwork. And in this there’s more, for these books are not simply illustrated books but flap books with plenty hidden on each page. We get a look into bags and baskets, behind closed doors, and even beneath the ground where there are interesting things to see and also parallel lives being led, mostly by mice. In the e-book version, this is done with every alternate page fading out the main page and highlighting what’s underneath the various flaps but I feel (as in all the books in this series), these would be best enjoyed in actual physical form, though I like that the publishers have managed to keep alive the excitement and fun of flaps in the e-version as well.

Very glad these have turned into a series of sorts.

WHAT GEORGE THINKS WHEN HE SITS STILL (2025) by CAROLINE BELL

My thanks to Chantilly Cat Press for a review copy of this book via NetGalley

A beautiful picture book with a great aesthetic and palette which I liked very much and also which captures a sentiment perhaps appreciated even more by older readers (though one valuable and relevant for children too in the current times)—that of sitting in silence and stillness and appreciating what’s around one and what one has—nature, the people who love us, and just the comfort and warmth we have at any given moment.

In the book we get a look at what George the Cat might be thinking or feeling when he sits still: the beauty of the quiet and of silence, something that can bring about happiness of its own kind. He might pick up on his human’s musing on the flowers or he might contemplate the wind, or he might even nap, comfortable and secure in the love that surrounds him. He watches a moth at different times of the day or simply enjoys the softness and warmth of the bed. He imagines the purr of the stars and the smell of warm milk or sometimes he simply sits beside his human, each conscious of the other’s love.

The palette, largely beige/cream (George is a ginger tom) with other colours in muted shades gives the same gentle, comforting vibe as the book and its sentiment (of love, of safety, of care) as we move from everyday moments to the world of imagination and dreams, between day and night and times in between.

This book is simple but subtly puts across its message, one I hope the intended readership picks up on too: that one needs to be still and in silence at times, simply noticing the small everyday things around us, whether the flowers or the ticking of the clock. Likewise, escaping into the world of dreams and the imagination has its own rewards, too, bringing about happiness of another kind. Amidst all the noise, bombardments and overloads of information, and brightness and distractions of the world today, this is an invaluable message for all of us: to spare a few moments for silence and enjoy the treasures it offers, and those unveiled by just being with your thoughts.

A beautiful book and sentiment which fills one with a great deal of warmth.

p.s. The author also shares with us the real George’s favourite things, among them Cat TV (the window) and the boxes!

p.p.s. A lot of reviews have suggested that the art here is AI, which may be, but I still thought it was very cute, with a great palette and incorporates a wonderful sentiment

These were reads for #ReadingtheMeow2025