Rescue Cat

“Life wasn’t always this easy for Butter- scotch,” writes Savage (Moonlight) as a digitally rendered spread shows an orange cat basking in the sun streaming into a comfy living room. In a brief flashback, readers see Butterscotch as a frightened stray, “lost and alone and scared,” until she’s coaxed by a child, portrayed with pink skin and dark hair and holding a cat toy, into a safe, warm home. Now, Butterscotch decides to pay that rescue forward. In a nature program shown upon the living room’s big screen—depicted with a clear line style that offers a bold visual contrast to otherwise soft, sponge-painting-reminiscent textures—a lion cub is in danger of being eaten by a crocodile. Butterscotch cowers momentarily, then “instead of running from danger, she ran toward it!” bounding through the screen and attempting to scare the croc with a mighty “Meeeew!” When that doesn’t work, the toy that once saved Butterscotch beckons again, and both cat and cub leap into the safe, warm living room, where they share a nuzzle before parting ways. Maybe cats aren’t so inscrutable after all, hints this picture book—maybe they’re just caught up in their own vivid emotional lives. Ages 3–6. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Book Group. (July)