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PICTURE BOOKS
Cull, Joren

Lap Cat

48 pp. | Penguin Workshop | October, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9780593659267 $19.99
(2) K-3 Wearing a Robin Hood-like hat and chanting "lap lap lap..." as they jog through a park, Lap Cat's obsessive quest for "the perfect lap" (for sitting) is on day 222. A friendly squirrel suggests its bucket, but: "'Tis cold and hard. Not warm and soft like the lap I seek...My quest continues!" Off Lap Cat goes, oblivious to the broken bucket and upset squirrel left behind. Kitty's Diner doesn't serve laps, so the feline proprietors instead offer pancakes "on the house." The literal-minded quester obliges by flinging pancakes everywhere before dashing off to the beach and crushing a dolphin's sandcastle (and spirit). Lap Cat's self-important and self-absorbed behavior provides much of the humor and is ably assisted by the deadpan third-person narrator. Cull's goofy cartoon characters and setting are rendered in a lighthearted sherbet palette; the lively pages are busy with oddball details but not overcrowded -- there's lots to discover on repeat readings. After even more destruction, one store owner finally refuses Lap Cat service. "I can't have ya destroyin' my shop." That's a wake-up call for our hero, who immediately repairs the damage done to property and relationships. Don't worry, a lap shows up in the end...but like the rest of this silly story, it's not what anyone expects.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2026

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