I just received Simon's Cat vs. the World today through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I was quite excited about receiving this book since I love the YouTube videos of Simon's Cat. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed since Simon's Cat vs. the World just didn't capture the adorable storytelling in the videos. This book doesn't actually have much of a story to it at all, it's just a series of scenes of Simon's Cat vs. (...Autumn...Kitten...Starlings, etc). Some of the scenes are cute and manage to fit a small story into them, but many of them don't actually make sense in the cat vs. world sense since Simon's Cat isn't actually facing off against the thing listed. Some of the scenes also stretch the bounds of imagination (bird's carrying pitchforks) which is all well and good in a cute storybook, but when that is the whole scene, it's just not that funny or cute. The art is pretty and in full color, which is something we don't get in the videos, but it has a rather grungy style, that makes me think the vet's office and Simon's house are just all constantly dirty. There is a tutorial at the end that teaches you how to draw Siamese cats, Persian cats, Tabby cats and squirrels. I have to assume that Simon's cat and kitten are included in a different book? The biggest thing to know about this one is that you won't get a story, you'll get a few funny scenes, a few strange scenes and a few pretty scenes. As a cat owner, I feel like I should have been more entertained. But if you're looking for a quirky coffee table book, you might like this.
