Of course, ailurophiles (cat lovers) are the perfect audience for author/artist Natalia Shaloshvili's enchantingly whimsical picture book, What a Small Cat Needs, but it's also likely to attract anyone and everyone who opens their hearts to animals. As in Miss Leoparda, Shaloshvili's text is once again smoothly translated from the original Russian by Lena Traer.
"What does a small cat need?" Shaloshvili queries. Her furry protagonist here has two small eyes, two small ears, four small paws, and "a body, with spots on her back." She also needs a tail--"even a small one"--to lure a fish, as well as "small pointy teeth" to catch a mouse to feed the "big hunger in her belly." When she can't hold on to her catch, her hungry belly will need milk. Afterward, she'll need sunlight "to warm her furry belly." Most of all, when darkness falls and she "feel[s] a bit scared," she'll need a door where she can wait for that special "someone to walk in." That someone just needs "a big heart and warm hands" for purring snuggles. "Because every cat--big and small--needs that very much." Everyone does.
Shaloshvili creates dreamy, welcoming spreads, capturing a heartwarming softness that avoids sharp angles and dividing lines. She favors a blue-scale palette with bright pops of orange and yellow (and the tiny pink triangular kitty nose), creating inviting, multilayered textures. When the kitty's human arrives home--nose and ears flushed from just having come in from the cold--their matching eyes are immediately noticeable, suggesting a forever promise to provide everything a small cat will ever need. --Terry Hong