Today I have been reading the first of Elizabeth Aston's Darcy books that just came in, but I'm not finished it yet, and I don't know that I'll talk about it here, as I think I would be saying pretty much the same things I've already said.

So instead I'll talk about My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World. I know what you are thinking here. You are thinking, but I thought you hated cats! Why all the reviews of cat books. Well, my friends, it is an unfortunate fact of life that many people think cats are great, and therefore, write, read and buy books about them. Shocking, I know, but it is something I must deal with, day in and day out. Rather ridiculous customers cooing over books with cats on the covers, or specially requesting books about cats, or whatnot.

Fortunately, Gilles Bachelet has found the antidote! A book that appears to be about a cat, but is in fact, about an elephant! See, Bachelet's cat is not so much a cat, as an elephant. And even though he behaves rather like a cat ("when he's not eating, he's sleeping. When he's not sleeping, he's eating"), there are a few differences. When an elephant chases a ball of yarn around your apartment, for instance, its not something you can ignore.

Thought this book doesn't have a story per se, I think younger kids would definitely get a kick out of the irony of a book about a cat, featuring illustrations of an elephant. And at 24 pages, it ends just in time, before the joke gets too old.

My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World by Gilles Bachelet
ISBN 081094913X
24 pages