Cat-alog III: Cat Board Books

I'm not one to shy away from controversy, but in the war between dog and cat people I'm now offering equal time to cats in the board book category. Here are some books for ages six to twenty-four months that are the cat's meow!

Judith Kerr has the whole cat thing covered in her Mog the Cat Board Books and others such as Mog's Kittens. Mog the cat shares everything in the child's day, inside and outside, playtime and bedtime, in these sweet stories of life with an opinionated cat.

For older toddlers, who can handle 70 flaps in one book, Cat in the Hat's Big Flap Book can be "a lot of fun that is funny." Combining characters from several Seuss classics, the book also teaches letters, numbers, and opposites. Just be sure your child is patient and dexterous enough to handle flaps without making the book, well, unflappable.

Lions, tigers, and leopards, oh, my! In Eric Carle's Have You Seen My Cat? a boy travels everywhere to find his missing cat, meeting many other members of the cat family, until he finds his own dear cat in the surprising ending.

Baby Einstein: Cats offers a slightly more educational direction with a bit of information, a hint of fine art, and pictures of different cats for the board book crowd.

Like cats themselves, there's a board book for every nascent cat lover!