My Dog, My Cat, My Mum and Me

My Dog, My Cat, My Mum and Me by Nigel Gray, illustrated by Bob Graham (Walker Books)
PB RRP $ 14.95
ISBN 9781921529511
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

New life is always a great joy. Nigel Gray’s absolutely gorgeous book about birth, both animal and human, will bring great joy to readers and listeners. Simple in its approach, yet carrying a strong message, it serves to teach and entertain with the use of rhyme, repetition of main words, and numbers up to three. It also informs children about the changes in the body which herald new life.

The dog ‘was fat when she went in, but she came out thin’.  The girl takes a look. There are two puppies under the door flap of the cupboard. The cat was fat when she went in the box, ‘but she came out thin’. Three kittens are lying in a heap under the cardboard flap lid. Then mum ‘got fatter and fatter. This time I knew what was the matter’. What happened next?

Bob Graham’s illustrations are outstanding as always. The characters and all the pictures are outlined in thick black strokes which are also repeated in the text. Vibrant colours fill the pages, and the expressions on the faces of the animals and people say more than any written word could.

This is such a happy book. Its yellow cover is the perfect choice for the background colour. The front shows Mum with her swollen tummy with the girl, who is pushing a pram in which the fat dog and the fat cat stand upright. The animals appear to be smiling for some secret reason. (That’s obviously before they go into their private places behind the flaps.) The back cover has a framed picture of all the new arrivals; animal and human, with the dog licking the girl’s face.

You’ll smile when see the covers and laugh from sheer pleasure while enjoying the book. This simple and perfect book with its simple and perfect message is suitable for all ages.