Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 09/03/2021 PreS-Gr 2—Inside Cat lives in a world filled with windows. Safe in its familiar world, Inside Cat observes the outside with curiosity and intrigue, often filling in the missing pieces with elements from its own imagination. Day after day, the vibrant city draws its attention, and just when it thinks it knows everything, Inside Cat finds a door that shows it more. This clever and enjoyable picture book is well suited to children and adults alike. Short sentences and a repetitive, rhyming structure make it accessible to young readers, while the overarching theme of bravely exploring the world outside one's comfort zone is one that will resonate with older readers as well. The text and illustrations work to create a dynamic and memorable tableau, as Inside Cat explores the myriad levels of its home. Created in a variety of media, the images feature the hero as a cat-shaped combination of scribbles, giving it texture and making it stand out against the rest of the images. Its home is primarily white with light blue, watercolor outlines of objects within that space. However, outside the windows is where the color is, depicting a wide range of scenes. VERDICT This cat's world is filled with imagination and wonder, and readers of all ages will love this unique, cleverly executed story.—Mary Lanni, formerly at Denver P.L. - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 09/15/2021 *Starred Review* In a companion to They All Saw a Cat (2016), Caldecott Honor Book creator Wenzel asks readers to contemplate how an indoor feline might perceive the outside world, based on window observations. “Inside Cat knows many windows, / finds a view wherever it goes. / Wanders. / Wonders. / Gazes. / Gapes. / Sees the world through many shapes.” A scraggly feline wanders its house, up and down stairs, at all hours, offering impressions of everything. The mixed-media artwork features a stylized black creature padding through interior landscapes drawn in light blue pencil. Full color is reserved for exteriors (a yellow bird, a stoplight, earth-moving equipment, a helicopter), and outdoor scenes are often extrapolated to the interior, rendered in colored pencil. For example, an exterior view of a toy sailboat, captioned “boat for mice,” also includes Cat’s imaginings sketched to reveal a tiny dock and a mouse wearing an inner tube. Details of Cat’s indoor activities are also included (peeking through blinds, drinking from the toilet, eating plants), as well as its mistaken assumptions (a sewer worker is presumed to be delivering a pizza to mice). The glass itself also affects perspective, whether it’s dusty, streaky, bubbly, or freaky (stained glass). A tour de force in terms of perspective, imagination, and creativity, this story reveals new details with each viewing, especially the final all-exterior spread. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.