Big, bright, friendly gouache illustrations. Listeners will identify with Nat and friends and respond with tapping toes to the rhyme and the song... Nat’s sunny smile is hard to resist.
Kirkus Reviews
Cheerful Nat the Cat sets out with her winning smile to invite her friends on a picnic. But when she’s met with grumpy negativity, her joie de vivre is squashed. It’s only when the mood of Nat’s friends become lightened by the memory of the her winning smile, that we see how strongly the disposition of others can affect us. Cleverly using childlike language to describe their changing feelings, Jez Alborough addresses an important part of understanding motivation and temperament.
Captured in the sunny colours of the countryside, Alborough uses a painterly stroke on bold-faced animals ... His close up views and the humorous expressions of the other animals are sure to amuse the very young. Books For Keeps
...Written in rhyme, which always goes down well with the Madhouse Mini-testers, and is great fun to read out loud at bedtime. Each page has a huge, brightly coloured picture that really enhances the text. The characters are all really appealing and the story really caught Pierre's imagination...
I've just noticed on the back of the book that two further stories will be coming soon featuring Billy and Hugo - Billy the Goat's Big Breakfast and Hugo the Hare's Rainy Day - so I'll definitely have to look out for those to complete the collection. Madhouse Family Reviews