The Adventures of Miss Petitfour

The Adventures of Miss Petitfour. Anne Michaels. 2015. [November 2015] Tundra. 144 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Very soon you will be meeting Miss Petitfour, and so, just to be sure you'll recognize her, this is what she looks like.

I loved this one from the very first page. Even before I turned the page to see that lovely phrase, "...and her Cats." Love isn't strong enough really. Let's make it LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. Miss Petitfour is a gush-worthy read if ever there was one!

So what is it about? The adventures that Miss Petitfour has with her sixteen cats. They get around town by flying--sailing in the wind using a tablecloth. What kind of adventures do they have? Are they big or small?

And some adventures are just the right size--fitting into a single, magical day. And these are the sort of adventures Miss Petitfour had.

There are five adventures in all:

• Miss Petitfour and the Rattling Spoon
• Miss Petitfour and the Jumble
• Miss Petitfour and the Penny Black
• Miss Petitfour and the birthday Cheddar
• Miss Petitfour and the "Oom"
  

The writing is absolutely lovely, charming, delightful, and practically perfect.

Do you know what a digression is? Well, of course you do. A digression is like quicksand or a whirlpool--sometimes you just can't find your way out of one. It's the part of a story that some people think is the most fun, when the story wanders off the point and gets lost, giving us all sorts of information that has nothing to do with getting us from the beginning to the end. A digression is just like what happens when you're walking to school: you stop to tie your shoelaces and notice the neighbor's dog looking at you, and so you stop to give it a pat, and then you see the fence has started to fall down, and so you have to climb it just a little, and then you look up and realize the clouds are in the shape of pianos, and then, oh dear, you suddenly remember you were on your way to school and you have to run all the rest of the way so you won't be late. That is a digression. Now, where were we?

An eccentricity is something everyone has--but everyone has a different one. An eccentricity is a quirky thing we like to do just because. Perhaps you always like to put on your right shoe first. Or perhaps you like to count by twos when you're bored. Or perhaps you only like to eat popcorn on Tuesdays. Or perhaps you like to count digressions and keep a record of them at the back of every book you read.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters. I loved Miss Petitfour, of course. But I also enjoyed all sixteen of her cats. Though probably Minky and Sizzles were my favorite. Other characters--human characters--that I enjoyed include: Mrs. Collarwaller (the bookseller), Mrs. Carruther (the grocery shop owner) and Mr. Coneybeare (confetti shop owner).
I also loved, loved, loved the illustrations. They were cute, sweet, charming, and absolutely perfect.

This is a book I see myself reading and rereading again and again and again.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews