Archie Snufflekins Oliver Valentine Cupcake Tiberius Cat

by Katie Harnett

Overview

Archie, Cupcake, Oliver, Valentine… the cat who lives on Blossom Street is called something different by everyone, and loved by all. But there is one house on the street that he hasn't visited yet…

In this sweet story, Katie Harnett explores how one well-loved cat can change a lonely woman's life and bring a small community together.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781909263376
Publisher:	Flying Eye Books Ltd.
Publication date:	09/06/2016
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	709,664
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD540L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Katie Harnett graduated from an Illustration BA at the University of the West of England, followed by an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. She received the Bologna Children's Book Fair ARS IN FABULA Grant Award in 2015.

Editorial Reviews

In her debut as both author and illustrator, Harnett gets everything right. Her story is touching without being overly sentimental (which is no easy feat). And her gorgeous illustrations perfectly suit the mood. She uses warmly colored paints and pencils, and an impeccable sense of design, to pull us right into the pleasant world of Blossom Street. She's created a diverse cast of human characters, each one unique and real and full of personality.

The New York Times Book Review - Peter Brown

07/18/2016
In debut talent Harnett’s poignant and quietly humorous portrait of a community coming together, there’s a calico cat with a semi-permanent scowl on Blossom Street, and he gets around. “Every morning he visits Mr. Green at number three,” a fisherman who offers him a fresh fish straight from the skillet. Later, the cat poses for a still life painting for Miss Fernandez (who calls him Valentine), digs through a vegetable patch with a Sikh man and his son (who think of him as Tiberius), and watches birds beside redheaded twins with binoculars, among other destinations. After the cat settles in with Mrs. Murray at number 11, who “no one ever visits,” the neighbors take to the streets in search of the cat. Before long, Mrs. Murray’s home has become the center of a street whose residents’ backgrounds and interests are as diverse as can be, but who share, among other things, a love for one particular cat. Mixing small vignettes with larger street scenes, Harnett nimbly juggles her large cast and the twin emotions of loneliness and contented companionship that she threads though this moving story. Ages 3–5. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

The focus on friendly camaraderie and community-building will be appreciated by many adults eager to share their values, and this quiet tale, with the children in their lives.
—Kirkus Reviews

In her debut as both author and illustrator, Harnett gets everything right. Her story is touching without being overly sentimental (which is no easy feat). And her gorgeous illustrations perfectly suit the mood.
—The New York Times

[A] poignant and quietly humorous portrait of a community coming together [...] Mixing small vignettes with larger street scenes, Harnett nimbly juggles her large cast and the twin emotions of loneliness and contented companionship that she threads though this moving story.
—Publisher’s Weekly

Katie Harnett’s charming story celebrates the simultaneous cunning and caring of one very special cat, and his ability to bring together a whole community of humans.
—Janet Minichiello, Politics & Prose

Harnett has created a lovely reminder of the importance of noticing the loneliest, the neediest, in our midst. It is a necessary, touching reminder that will resonate for young and old, paired with warm, expressive, detailed illustrations that depict a beautifully diverse neighborhood.
—Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop

It gets right to the nub of modern urban life — the wonderful diversity, coupled with the isolation and awkwardness that means we may just about know the names of the people next door but, beyond that, it’s a smile and a nod at best.
—A Bookish Life

Archie is truly a cat looking for his forever home, and I'm proud to say he has a home on my shelf!
—Let's Talk Picture Books, Best Picture Books of 2016

From the Publisher

10/01/2016
PreS-Gr 1—A neighborhood's orange and white cat with mismatched eyebrows has many names because he claims one at each house he visits on Blossom Street. From a young ballerina to bird-watchers to gardeners, the feline's multicultural family members seem unaware of one another's existence until he goes missing. He's discovered at the home of an ignored woman, where he has decided to take up permanent residence. Luckily for all, the entire clan is eager to visit him, bringing collaboration to the community and providing the former recluse with company. Warm colors and busy vignettes keep the pages engaging. VERDICT This variation on the favorite Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore is a fun read-aloud that shows how cultural diversity coexists with emotional commonality.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

School Library Journal

2016-07-02
A stray cat finds a cozy home, brings comfort to a lonely woman, and enhances the sense of community among a group of neighbors.The multiply named hero of this British import is a simply drawn, rather portly calico cat. He slips in and out of the houses and lives of the people who live on Blossom Street. He enjoys (or merely tolerates) different activities in each house, eating fresh fish for breakfast, serving as an artist’s model, digging in the garden, bird-watching with a pair of binocular-wielding twins, and more. But there’s one house the cat doesn’t visit—until he does, and everything changes. Harnett’s colored-pencil artwork is reminiscent of Maira Kalman’s work, with lots of color and pattern, flattened perspectives, and a mix of double-page spreads, single-page illustrations, vignettes, and panels. The Blossom Street residents are pleasingly diverse in gender, race, and ethnicity, as revealed by skin tone, details of dress, and/or surname. Archie etc., meanwhile, appears utterly impassive and vaguely bored—i.e. totally, convincingly catlike. Dialogue balloons and sly humor enliven the deadpan text, which complements the quirky pictures perfectly. The focus on friendly camaraderie and community-building will be appreciated by many adults eager to share their values, and this quiet tale, with the children in their lives. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews