The interplay between Emily Gravett's text and artwork are as humorous as the interactions of Matilda and her cat.
Matilda, the girl heroine, dresses like her tabby in a costume bearing identical stripes, tail and ears. She clearly adores her pet. "Matilda's cat likes playing with wool," the text claims in penciled handwriting. The cat ducks behind a bin as the girl, tangled in multi-colored strands of yarn, lobs a ball of wool in her pet's direction. On the next page, the phrase "playing with wool" is crossed out and replaced with "boxes." The cat gazes nonchalantly at the girl as she peeks out of a two-story corrugated fortress. So begins Matilda's wish list of shared activities for her and her cat. The feline looks downright terrified of "riding bikes!" (having escaped from the trike's rear cargo box), and one of the funniest images shows the cat staring at a banana at Matilda's tea party (a smear of chocolate on the hostess's face indicates that she's having a fine time). While Matilda is off "fighting foes," her feline naps; her "bedtime stories" (Gravett's Dogs) make the cat hiss. But there is one thing they enjoy doing together: cuddling at bedtime.
Gravett keeps her compositions spare; she uses only enough pattern or color to illustrate the item on Matilda's list. The focus remains entirely on the relationship between Matilda and her cat. Every child will be able to relate to Matilda's comical attempts to lure in her cat, and her complete inability to do so. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness