The artist’s “cat is very fat, very sweet, and very, very silly” (n.p.). He cer tainly acts like a cat in the way he sleeps, eats, and plays. He is a very clean “cat” but leaves prints all over the artist’s work. But is he a cat? He lands on his back rather than on his feet when he falls, and the artist cannot identify his breed. A sense of the absurd is produced by the incongruity between the word cat in the text and the humorous illustrations of the artist’s pet elephant. 2007 ALSC Notable Book. hc

Originally published as Mon Chat le plus Bête du Monde in French by Êditions du Seuil France, in 2004.