Boss Cat

By Sarah Speedie & Tom Jellett

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Sarah Speedie’s debut picture book, Mozzies vs Flies was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia, 2022 Book of the Year awards. Tom Jellett has illustrated many children’s picture books including Why I Love Summer by Michael Wagner and Why Can’t I be a Dinosaur? by Kylie Westaway

Boss Cat is used to ruling the roost and she isn’t impressed when the family bring home a new puppy, a situation familiar to many readers. After enduring the bouncing, the yapping, the jumping, tugging, licking and chewing she determines that the most important mission in her life now is to show this obnoxious intruder (and the family) who is the boss. Any and every opportunity is seized. The finale, when the whole family and puppy are playing with the ball and Boss Cat works out how to turn on the hose, has some hilarious results but perhaps not quite what Boss Cat bargained for.

This amusing story of cat and dog getting used to each other is told in rhyme which works most of the time. The illustrations are what brings this story to magnificent life – big, bold, colourful and expressive. Tom Jellett had found about fifty ways of making a cat look cross and/or unhappy. He definitely knows his cats. The exhuberant puppy and the happy family are also full of life and mischief.

The book could prompt discussions on ways of coping with a new family member or  adjusting to a different status within a family.

Boss Cat will appeal to both cat and dog lovers, in short, a book for the whole family to enjoy.

Harper Collins Au 2024

Tom Jellett