Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

CATHOOD: How to be the Perfect Cat is an animal story written by Rosie Malezer, illustrated by Martu Germinario, and narrated by Muffin, the cat. Muffin is not your ordinary cat, that is, if any cat can be considered to be ordinary. Muffin moonlights as a blog author when his human is not at home. His blog is dedicated to all the cats out there who have a desire to be a better cat -- and who doesn’t? Muffin can explain to them precisely how it's done. He is a superlative cat, even if he does have a somewhat silly name, but that was his human's fault. Muffin's mama was a superlative cat as well. She loved to tell her kittens about the gifts she used to leave for her owners, and their poorly concealed surprise and delight at those offerings. She also explained that each of them would leave home one day with their own humans. Muffin watched when that day finally came, and the humans came to visit. Mama had given him lots of instructions on picking the right human. Much could be told from their scent, especially if there was a dog in the house. Dogs were huge, hairy and smelly. If Muffin smelled a dog on a human, he would hiss so the human would return him to the cat box. But the biggest thing that Muffin remembered Mama saying was: “The only way to know if a human loves you is by looking into their eyes.” Muffin had to wait a bit, and even go to the RSPCA for a while, until he finally found his human, but she was well worth the wait.

Rosie Malezer's animal story for pet lovers of all ages, CATHOOD: How to be the Perfect Cat, had me smiling from ear to ear as I gathered wisdom from the words of Muffin, the cat blogger par excellence. I loved the way that Muffin and Tarja, who is deaf, communicate and enjoyed seeing how the two of them become a family. Martu Germinario's illustrations are marvelous! They capture the expressions on Muffin's and Tarja's faces perfectly and bring an extra dimension to the story. While my own two dogs will probably never be fortunate enough to meet a cat as tolerant of the canine species as Muffin eventually became, I enjoyed seeing a cat and dog actually enjoying each other's presence rather than engaging in a life or death chase. My dogs have learned the hard way that cat claws are definitely not fun when they come in contact with sensitive dog noses. CATHOOD: How to be the Perfect Cat is most highly recommended for animal lovers of all ages. It's especially recommended as a story time book for families with young children who are considering bringing a kitten into the family. I'm looking forward to Muffin’s upcoming blog posts.