Twisty-Turny House

by Lisa Mantchev, EG Keller (Illustrator)

Overview

Cats and dogs will never get along, right? WRONG. Author of Strictly No Elephants Lisa Mantchev and bestselling illustrator EG Keller explore an unexpected friendship in this funny and sweet picture book.

The upstairs cats and downstairs dogs in a tall, twisty-turny house are kept apart because their humans assume dogs and cats won’t get along. But when an opportunity presents itself, the bolder cat goes through a door that is left open. Will there be hissing, barking, and chasing—or an unexpected friendship?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534438477
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lisa Mantchev is the author of many picture books, including the internationally acclaimed Strictly No Elephants and The Trouble with Giraffes, both illustrated by Taeeun Yoo; Remarkables, illustrated by David Litchfield; and Someday, Narwhal, illustrated by Hyewon Yum. Lisa lives on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Learn more at LisaMantchev.com.

EG Keller has illustrated many books for young readers, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo and His Royal Dogness, Guy the Beagle: The Rebarkable True Story of Meghan Markle’s Rescue Dog. As Gerald Kelley, he illustrated documentarian Ken Burns’s New York Timesbestselling book, Grover Cleveland, Again!. He lives in Denver with his husband and dog. Learn more at EGKellerDraws.com.

Editorial Reviews

07/12/2021

In the titular residence, “the cats stay upstairs, doing their cat things, and the dogs stay downstairs, doing their dog things,” writes Mantchev (Strictly No Elephants), an arrangement that the other animals—a rabbit, seven fish, and a rat—believe is all for the best. Then one day a cat creeps down the steps, and despite the three dogs’ initial animosity, they can’t resist showing off their digs. The cat does the same (its comrade, shy at first, eventually comes around), and after realizing their common interests, the pets start finding “new best things... together”: new toilets to drink out of, new furniture to claw and scratch, new plants to destroy. In digitally rendered art, Keller (A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo) employs organic textures, overlays of translucent color, and zephyr-light outlines (the cat’s initial foray down the house’s twisty-turny staircase is positively cinematic) as the creators show how, from very separate lives, a community of mutual joy and mischief is forged. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2021-07-27
Members of a menagerie discover one another.

“Four humans, a rabbit, seven fish, and a rat live inside a twisty-turny house.” There are also two cats, whose domain is the upstairs, and three dogs, relegated to the downstairs. The other animals think this segregation is necessary and beneficial, because “the cats would hiss and claw,” and “the dogs would howl and chase them.” But one day one of the cats decides to explore the downstairs, thanks to a door accidentally left ajar, and an intermammalian friendship is born. The illustrations are rough yet elegant, the twisty-turny house elaborately detailed. While each animal is an unusual color (pink, purple, green), they somehow maintain a realistic, energetic tone. The story itself is a bit bland: The tension built up in the first few pages dissipates quickly, and the exploration of the cat-dog friendship is amusing but basic. Readers are left wondering about the four humans: Who are they? Why did they decide to keep the animals separated in the first place? How do they react to this new reconfiguration of the species? While the text is well metered and fun to read aloud, it’s missing a key component of true drama. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

For readers excited to see cute pets doing cute pet things. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews