The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Bottner, Barbara

The Scaredy Cats

32 pp. | Simon | April, 2003 | Trade ISBN 0-689-83786-0 $$14.95

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Victoria Chess. The Scaredy Cat family can't function for fear of the what ifs. They go through a day of paralyzed inertia, until at bedtime Baby Scaredy Cat reminds her parents that if all kinds of bad things can happen, so can all kinds of good things. The cumulative structure works nicely within the diurnal time frame and gives the text an easy rhythm. Chess's edge-of-loony illustrations add hugely to the humor.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2003