[.ca] Mama Cat has Three Kittens (ISBN 0805071628)

From Amazon.com:
Fluffy, Skinny, and Boris tag along with Mama Cat all day long. Actually, Boris just naps. He snoozes while the others wash their paws, walk the stone wall, sharpen their claws, chase leaves, and engage in other fundamentally feline pastimes. But when the others curl up to nap, Boris stretches, yawns, and comes to life! Denise Fleming, creator of In the Small, Small Pond and In the Tall, Tall Grass, succeeds again with this gorgeous picture book. The bold, exuberant, rich illustrations are artfully crafted with color-saturated handmade paper. Astute youngsters will love finding other creature trios in each picture, plus a hidden mouse! (Ages 3 and older) --Karin Snelson

Such fun, for cat lovers and children alike:
Ohio artist Denise Fleming works with paper to create the most extraordinarily detailed illustrations, as here in "Mama Cat Has Three Kittens" and in her other books as well. According to the text on the last page, "The artist used colored cotton rag fiber poured through hand-cut stenciles to create the illustrations for this book." The process sounds somewhat crude, but the result is illustrations of great vibrancy and detail. They are so alive that they very nearly leap off the page. Mama Cat's children are named Fluffy, Skinny, and Boris. Looks like Boris is always missing out on the fun, as his favorite activity in life is napping. By the end of the book, however, he surprises everyone with his active nature--and then reverts to his usual self so we know that deep down he hasn't changed. It's a fun and reassuring look at how everyone has hidden depths. Great fun to read to little kids, and great fun to have a new reader read to YOU, the parent, as it's short and sweet.

Really Great Book for Beginning readers:
This is a really cute book about a mother cat and her three kittens. Two of the Kittens copy everything the mother does and the third only sleeps. It has really bright drawings and the antics of the cats will make you smile. Then at the end the last kitten suprises the others in a really sweet ending to a really great kids book.

Kitten antics entice early readers:
Denise Fleming's illustrations make her books but her topics are always enjoyable for young children. I just stumbled across this book and can't believe I have missed it for the past 2 years. It is a precious book and a great gift for beginning readers. I have shared it with children ages 2-6 who enjoy the predictability. This book even stimulated me to write a cat song, to add to my collection of over 200 songs and fingerplays appropriate for young children.

A great story to read to toddlers:
My 3-year old daughter memorized this book by the time she was two. She still loves taking it out and "reading" it to us; the repetitive nature of the book really lends itself to very young children grasping the plot, and the beautiful, distinctive pictures are unlike most I've seen in children's picture-books. They're bold, colorful, and full of simple action. My daughter even used the paperback of this book as a pillow for three weeks; she refused to go to bed without it!