Christmas "Cat" astrophe

Day by day the holidays are approaching.  Plans are being made for cookie baking and meal making.  Thoughts are drifting to gift giving, light stringing, tree decorating and hanging of the greens.

Households are full of festive fun with much to be done.  When you are Fuddles, one of the most coddled cats in creation, it stands to reason you believe all is being done for you and you alone.  Readers who were introduced to this chunky feline in Fuddles (Aladdin, May, 2011) will be delighted with his return in A Very Fuddles Christmas (Aladdin) written and illustrated by Frans Vischer.

Fuddles was a fat, pampered cat.
His family spoiled him endlessly.

When the napping Fuddles is awakened by a tantalizing smell, he naturally follows it to the source.  Greeted by the sight of a table laid with food fit for a king, Fuddles can hardly wait to pounce with pleasure.

"No, Fuddles! That's not for you!"

What!? Not for him?  How can this be true?  No matter...he scurries into the living room to discover wrapped presents, gingerbread treats and lights waiting to be put in place.  Every gesture he makes, every exploratory move, elicits negative exclamations.

When Fuddles beholds the beauty of the decorated tree, he is overwhelmed with desire, a desire to scale that magnificent model of glowing greenery.  Timberrrr....  Uh, oh... In a furry hurry, Fuddles heads out of the room straight to the out-of-doors.

Dumbfounded by all the whiteness, he wonders what happened to the grass, flowers  and leaves.  The temperature is much too chilly for Fuddles' taste.  To his frustration the door is closed and no amount of yowling can get his family's attention.

In an attempt to locate the back door (perhaps it is open) Fuddles meanders around the yard getting colder and hungrier.  When a couple of troublesome squirrels shake a pile of snow on him, that's the last straw.  Hot on their tails, Fuddles goes up...up...and up...right into more trouble.  You can be sure this is one Christmas Fuddles will always remember.

Using his family's cat as inspiration, Frans Vischer writes a narrative as someone who knows how the feline mind works; cat attitude, fears and feats are portrayed in comedic truth.  Fuddles may be pampered, but when he's on the move there's plenty of action.  Descriptive phrases, individual words, paint precise pictures as Fuddles' latest escapade is told.  Here is an example.

Whoops!
Whoosh!
Bump!
Like a pioneer frontiersman, Fuddles bravely faced the elements...
through the bitter cold and biting wind...


Taking a single look at the matching front and back, jacket and cover, you can feel the corners of your mouth curve upward into a big grin.  Tangled in a string of lights, wreath about his neck or popping out of an open Christmas box with the tree topper firmly attached to his head, Fuddles clearly is up to another adventure, a holiday adventure.  Paw prints travel across the verso to the second, primary title page showcasing a contented, smiling Fuddles sitting next to a plate of cookies.

Illustrations created digitally by Frans Vischer, in full color, depict Fuddles in all his feline glory.  With adept ease, Vischer transitions from a full page visual to small vignettes to two page spreads with a layout designed to hold the reader's attention page by page.  The body language and facial expressions on Fuddles are completely giggle inducing; just thinking about his overly plump stomach makes me grin.  I burst out laughing at the first page, Fuddles lying on his purple settee, red pillow under his head, quilt covering his body, cucumber slices over his eyes, assorted desserts on the table next to him, all by a roaring fire in the fireplace.  My favorite illustration is a series of six looks and body positions when Fuddles is clearly in a precarious spot.  I could look at it over and over.


Whether you are a lover of cats, Christmas or both, A Very Fuddles Christmas written and illustrated by Frans Vischer is a title you will want to add to your shelves.  This book delivers the best gift of all, laughter.  Please stop by the links embedded above to access the Fuddles website, Frans Vischer's website and blog, and my review of Fuddles.  By following this link to the publisher's website you can get a glimpse of a couple of interior pages.  UPDATE:  Here is a link to Carter Higgins's blog, Design of the Picture Book, where she highlights this title and interviews Frans Vischer.

The Cat's Meow

I am without a doubt, with no apologies given whatsoever, a dog person through and through.  There are life-size paw prints on my mailbox, a ceramic sign on my front walkway proclaiming "Home Is Where The Dog Is" and my family photos are of my canine companion, Xena.

But I have to say that when browsing through a local bookstore earlier this summer, spotting Fuddles written and illustrated by Frans Vischer, I cracked up laughing.  You may not be able to judge a book by its cover, but it sure will get your attention.   Seeing that chunky cat lounging on his personal purple settee dangling a fish over his grinning mouth was a definite draw.



Fuddles was a fat, pampered cat.  His family spoiled him.  And spoiled him.  And spoiled him.

These first few phrases coupled with illustrations showing Fuddles under the hair dryer, nails being clipped, being pushed in a stroller, soaking in a bath and hanging in a hammock are enough to up the grin factor.  Contemplating his life though, Fuddles discovers that he pretty much just eats, sleeps and visits his litter box.

What this feline finds is that he longs for adventure; change is good, right?  To his dismay when he heads for the door he is told, in no uncertain terms, that the outdoors is forbidden.  He can't understand that he, Fuddles a fat cat in more ways than one, is being told no for the very first time.  Being no different from many no really means why not; he is determined to meet and conquer this challenge.

 A strict, well sort of, training program begins while waiting for the right moment...Like a cheetah chasing a gazelle, he made his speedy getaway.  Once outside his lack of true training creates one unfortunate incident after another with those annoying birds, hilarious squirrels and a big scary barking dog the size of a horse.  Giddy-up!

Night descends as Fuddles wanders the neighborhood lost, needing a litter box and something to make his stomach quit grumbling. Will this frightened fur ball find his family?

Frans Vischer's graphics for Fuddles, his first picture book, are digitally rendered.  From his early youth Vischer was drawn to cartoons and drawing was a vehicle to communicate when his family moved to the states from Holland.  In 1981 he became an animator for The Walt Disney Company.  To his credit are
such films as The Princess and The Frog, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Cats Don't Dance (Warner Brothers) and The Road to El Dorado (DreamWorks).

As readers turn the pages a varied format greets each phase of the tale.  From full page spreads bleeding off the page to several smaller vignettes to even a two page spread at night, each extends the author's narration.  Humor is injected everywhere.  When sharpening his hunting skills he is really climbing a stool playing with a toy mouse but a thought cloud shows him leaning over a cliff to snag a big fish.  Fuddles' facial expressions alone are guaranteed to produce a load of laughs.

While this book will never convince me to go over to the "other side", I love to laugh, especially with my students.  I sincerely hope that Fran Vischer has more adventures for Fuddles in the future.




Follow this link for a cute word search puzzle at the Simon & Schuster web site.  Be sure to click on the other links to learn more about Fuddles and author/illustrator Frans Vischer.