What a Small Cat Needs
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 27 Jan 2026
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- USD 9.99
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- Pre-Order
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- USD 9.99
Publisher Description
Sweet, tender, and perfect for the youngest picture book readers, this winning story about a most adorable kitten is an affectionate invitation to identify with and love this small cat!
What does a small cat need? Two little eyes, two little ears, big whiskers, and a tail, to start. What else does a small cat need? Maybe a walk in the flowers, a sip of milk, or a warm spot to laze around in the sun.
But above all else, what a small cat needs is... someone big or little—maybe someone just like you!—with cuddly arms and a huge heart to pet it and hear it purr. Yes, every cat needs that!
This is a tender and universal story through which author-illustrator Natalia Shaloshvili achieves something quite rare: illustrations that are of great artistic quality, and yet succeed in being warm, funny and relatable to children. With beautiful pacing and emotionally astute moments, this small story succeeds brilliantly in structuring an identification between small cat and child that will have young readers returning to this book again and again—to see themselves, while also feeling love and care for this irresistible kitten.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Conjuring a wee feline with "Two small eyes./ Two small ears./ A mouth, full of small pointy teeth," and more, Shaloshvili (Bear) deftly kicks off a tenderly wrought picture book meditation on the power of unconditional love. The work's unnamed kitten protagonist is a smudgy gray and black creation who sports scraggly whiskers and two round blue eyes. Self-sufficient but always a little tentative, the feline navigates a world that often feels stormy and unsettled as she fishes from a pier with a line off her tail, drinks milk from a teacup held in her front paws, and otherwise attempts to meet her needs ("She needs rain to get soaked in.// And a roof to hide under from the rain"). A flock of seagull-like birds tags along, but these observers provide more witness than interaction. Finally, a door opens and a pale-skinned child with "a big heart and warm hands" welcomes the kitty inside for a cuddle. Now, the kitten's wide eyes close in sweet contentment, enjoying what many a cat—and many a human, too—really longs for: emotional and physical attunement, and someone to occasionally "gently ruffle" their coat. It's a truth so simple it purrs. Ages 3–6.
