Cat Skidoo

Cat Skidoo

Author	Bethany Roberts
Illustrator	R. W. Alley
Language	English
Genre	Children's fiction
Published	May 2004[1]
Publisher	Henry Holt & Company[2]
Publication place	United States
Pages	36[1] (unpaged)[2]
ISBN	0-8050-6710-8

Cat Skidoo is a 2004 book by Bethany Roberts, with illustrations by R. W. Alley. About two kittens who cause havoc exploring their home surroundings, it received positive reviews.

Synopsis

Two kittens have fun exploring around the house and the yard in a game called "cat skidoo", "which seems to entail chasing everything that moves while wreaking havoc."[1]

Background

This was the second Bethany Roberts book to feature cats as main characters, after 1997's Cat Parade.[3][4]

Reception

On its original publication, Cat Skidoo received positive reviews. Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and the School Library Journal praised Roberts' "rhythmic", "rollicking" rhymes and Alley's watercolor work.[1][2][5] SLJ's Marge Loch-Wouters called it a "bouncy tribute to feline exuberance...[f]eaturing plenty of white space and lending a sense of nonstop motion".[2] Booklist's Carolyn Phelan said it was "Fun for reading aloud", adding: "Alley's lively ink drawings make the most of the kittens' innocent curiosity and playful high jinks, giving children lots of visual action to enjoy as the simple story rolls along."[5] According to Kirkus, "The kittens are expressive without being too anthropomorphic."[1] Despite the "anticlimatic ending", Nell Beram of The Horn Book Guide admitted that "for the littlest readers[,] the ride will be worth it."[6]

References

1. "Review: 'Cat Skidoo'". Kirkus Reviews. No. 9. May 1, 2004. ISSN 1948-7428. ProQuest 917138075. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
2. Loch-Wouters, Marge (June 2004). "Review: 'Cat Skidoo'". School Library Journal. Vol. 50, no. 6. p. 117. ISSN 0362-8930. Retrieved July 29, 2023 – via ProQuest.
3. Kumar, Lisa, ed. (2010). "Roberts, Bethany 1949–". Something About the Author. Vol. 202. Gale Research. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-4144-3499-5. Retrieved July 29, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
4. Ward, Caroline (January 1997). "Review: 'Cat Parade'". School Library Journal. Vol. 43, no. 1. p. 90. ISSN 0362-8930. Retrieved July 29, 2023 – via ProQuest.
5. Phelan, Carolyn (June 1–15, 2004). "Review: 'Cat Skidoo'". Booklist. Vol. 100, no. 19/20. p. 1748. ISSN 0006-7385. Retrieved July 29, 2023 – via ProQuest.
6. Beram, Nell (Fall 2004). "Preschool: 'Cat Skidoo'" (PDF). The Horn Book Guide. Vol. 15, no. 2. p. 325. ISSN 1044-405X. Retrieved July 29, 2023 – via ProQuest. Another Roberts book, Fourth of July Mice!, was reviewed in the same issue.