The Cat at Night
by Dahlov Ipcar; illus. by author
Preschool, Primary    Tilbury    56 pp.
9/23    9781958394229    $18.95
e-book ed.  9781958394236    $18.95

First published in 1969. When the farmer puts the cat out for the night, the cat doesn’t sleep; he goes exploring. Double-page spreads alternate between dark scenes showing silhouettes of objects, animals, etc., and those showing what the cat can see with his night vision. The guessing-game nature of the story (“Where do you think the cat is walking now?”) encourages interaction, and Ipcar’s trademark simple but modern illustrations have great child appeal. Children will enjoy the joke at the end: in the morning, with the cat curled up in an armchair, the farmer says, “What a lazy cat. He sleeps all night and he sleeps all day, too!” Appended with an illuminating afterword by Ipcar scholar Carl Little.

From the September/October 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.