My two-and-a-half year-old son is completely obsessed with this latest addition to his library. We have not previously discovered Mr Pusskins, so this is our introduction to Sam Lloyd’s ‘books with cattitude’.
The latest book in the series has Mr Pusskins entered into a pet show by Emily, the little girl with whom he lives. Mr Pusskins finds the whole thing a yawn until he realises that he is competing for ‘the most fabulous thing he has ever seen’ – a trophy.
The story is energetically realised, both in the telling and the illustrating, and I suspect that all toddlers going through potty-training will be thrilled with a pivotal moment in the plot which features a toilet. Each page has plenty of text, but it is written in a way that ensures we make it to the conclusion of the book every time.
For my 31-month-old son this story has immediately become a favourite, with him asking for Mr Pusskins: Best in Show every day since we first read it through, and I can see that we’ll need to take ourselves down to the bookshop in a few weeks to purchase the other two Mr Pusskins titles, Mr Pusskins and Mr Pusskins and Little Whiskers, all published by Orchard Books.
Elissa Milne 