A storm, a shipwreck,
an ongoing ocean,
then finally, finally
a deserted isle. . . .
Safety -- but wait!
The fifteen swimmers
braving the waves
are, after all . . . kitties.
They are not into
cooperating
until, until
on this desert isle
they must.
Here,
from the creators
of the witty Old Cricket,
comes a wily, wise
saga of sogginess,
a feline fantasy
about drying off (elegantly),
shaping up (grumpily),
getting along (at last),
and loving it.
Ponder Goembel has illustrated eight books, including two others by Lisa Wheeler, Old Cricket, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and Sailor Moo; A Basket Full of White Eggs, by Brian Swann; and The Night Iguana Left Home, by Megan McDonald. She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where the 2005 floods threatened to wash away the nearly finished paintings for this book. Her Web site is www.pondergoembel.com.