Title: Floof
Author/Illustrator: Heidi McKinnon
Published By: Workman Publishing, 2022

I have a wonderful group of friends. Like, truly epic. People I’ve known forever, people I love like family. They’re a truly solid bunch.

What I DON’T have is a lot of kid-lit-loving friends. My friends are into many wonderful things (among them, bread-making, crocheting, remixing music, midnight crafting, and climbing mountains), but most of them aren’t huge picture-book nerds like me.*

Anyway, you might (or might not) know that I self-published two books a few years ago. I was having coffee with the illustrator of those books, my pal Maurizio, and we got to talking about how some books LOOK really cute when you pick them up at Chapters (or in this case, the library), but then…man, do they let you down hard in the story department.

Picture books, in my very humble opinion, need to have strong stories to go with excellent art. And yes, of course, there are a bazillion exceptions to the rule. But if we’re talking in generalizations, the BEST picture books have both. Good art, good words. Both carrying part of the story-load, both helping to tell the best tale possible. It’s a beautiful thing, when it’s done well.

With that in mind, I WANTED to love Floof. Heck, I DO love the ART in this book. It’s absolutely adorable, no question. But the story…isn’t really a story, per se. It’s a series of events. The cat (Floof) wakes up and eats and lives through their cat-activity-filled day and then goes to sleep after causing some household mayhem. And that’s neat, sure. Cats are fun! I love a fluffy cat! And a slightly mischievous one? I’m here for it.

However, documenting a cat’s ACTUAL daily activities isn’t…interesting. Cats don’t do much, right? Like, unless it was some kind of special cat who solved crimes or was able to dance or draw portraits. That cat I’d read about. That cat would be awesome.

But Floof? Floof is cute. And that’s this book’s major selling point. Beyond the cuteness, there’s nothing much more to say.

Which just goes to show: you can’t judge a book by its cover.

…except for the times that I did here, here, and here.

Lily’s review (yup, I had Lily read this book!): “I really like the cat. I wish more happened in the story.”

Mama’s review: Ditto.

* Shoutout to Steph in New Jersey! And Maurizio, obviously!