In October 2022 children were introduced to a new book series featuring a cat, but not just any cat, Rainbow Cat – a cat of many colours! In Rainbow Cat and the Big Tidy, Rainbow Cat comes across lots of litter and with the help of friends, including a dog with one shoe, start to tidy up their environment. It is a wonderful tale in rhyming verse about tidying up and keeping the environment clean. Now Rainbow Cat is back for a second outing in Rainbow Cat and Mouse.
Rainbow Cat and Mouse, written by Julia Stebbing and illustrated by Nivya Kuriakose, is an illustrated rhyming tale for 2-7 year olds with another powerful message – it costs nothing to be kind!
Rainbow Cat is on the prowl, hungry and looking for food. Being hungry puts Cat in a very bad mood. Cat happens upon a mouse, and we all know that cats just love mice, and thinks that snack time has arrived. Poor Mouse is scared but decides to fight rather than flee and after coming to an agreement to find alternative food, Cat promises not to eat mouse – yet! Mouse finds Cat’s tone rather rude and when the Dog with one shoe arrives confirms that it costs nothing to be kind. This puts a whole new perspective on things, will Cat eat Mouse or can the three of them work together and find another solution to satisfy Cat’s hunger?
Overall, Rainbow Cat and Mouse is a very enchanting tale of friendship and kindness told in fun rhyming verse. It is very engaging with the fun rhymes and the beautiful illustrations, Rainbow Cat at night is nice and bright and really shines out of the pages.
Books for younger children generally contain some excellent messages for the reader/listener, Rainbow Cat and Mouse is no difference with amusing messages around being kind to each other no matter how different you may be, friendship and supporting each other. It also conveys the message of being brave and standing up to your fears.
The beautiful illustrations by Nivya Kuriakose are excellent. The story is told at night so you would expect the illustrations to be quite dark, but the bold, bright colours of Rainbow Cat really shine in the darkness. The illustrations of the animals are perfect, child-friendly and expertly brought to life on the page – bright, colourful and vivid and are great for helping young readers visualise what is happening within the story. And I love that there 4 pages of line-drawn illustrations at the back of the book for children to colour and create their own colourful animals and scenes.
An excellent short story about friendship and kindness told in a fun rhyming way. Rainbow Cat, Dog with one shoe and Mouse are excellent characters that children will love. I think that the rhyming text helps children take in the message of the story a lot easier.
Rainbow Cat and Mouse is a charming story. The rhyming verse delivers the tale in a fun and engaging way that young readers (or listeners if being told as a bedtime story) will adore. An excellent addition to the Rainbow Cat series.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £6.99 (Paperback) / £1.99 (Kindle)
For more information, visit www.stickybunpublishing.com. Available to buy from Amazon here.
