Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel

 

               Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel was chosen for the 2022 2x2 reading list. It follows Inside Cat, who is exactly as it sounds: a cat who stays inside. As it wanders through its home, Inside Cat sees the outside world through an assortment of windows. It thinks it has the outside world figured out, but the cat soon realizes that the world is much bigger than it originally thought.

              I found this book when I looked on the official 2x2 reading list on the Texas Library Association website. I thought the book looked really cute since I love anything that has to do with cats. I have an inside cat of my own, so that played a big factor into adding this book to my list. I also thought this book seemed humorous just by looking at a few sneak peeks of the illustrations online.

              First and foremost, the illustrations of this book are what really made me enjoy this fun story. The colors were the first thing I noticed. Inside Cat’s world in the house is seen in whites and greys while the outside world is in color. This represented the cat’s wonder about the things outside that they were only able to experience while looking through the windows. The reader’s eyes are instantly drawn to the things going on outside because of the colors, which gives us a little insight into the thoughts of Inside Cat. When the cat is thinking about things outside, their thoughts are also seen in color, just like the things out the windows.

              The lines of each illustrations are also distinct. The inside furniture is created in various sized lines that are just dark enough for the reader to make out what they are against the white backdrop. Inside Cat itself is created using messy scribbles of brown, black, and tan. There is a slight outline of the shape of the cat, but then the inside is filled with the messy strokes, which make it easy to find Inside Cat on each page.

              My favorite thing about this book was how the illustrations showed Inside Cat’s different viewpoints about the outside world, which were usually far from the truth. A lot of them were not explained in the writing, so the reader will have to study the illustrations to find out this information. One example of Inside Cat’s wrong perceptions of the outside was how it thought snow fell outside. One page shows the cat observing salt falling from an overturned saltshaker, so later on in the book when there is snow falling outside, Inside Cat thinks the snow is coming from a large saltshaker. Wenzel really added a lot of fun details to his illustrations that will be engaging for young readers to try and find.

              This is one of my favorite books that I've read for this project, which surprised me because the concept of the story is so simple. I think this book is a great example of the power great illustrations can have. This is a perfect choice for younger readers to pick up. I give this book five out of five stars.

Wenzel, B. (2021, October 12). Inside Cat. Chronicle Books.