I'm a fan of Anna H's mochimochi creations and knitted multiple mochimochi cats (seven? eight?) for Christmas stockings in 2023, so I was curious and enthusiastic to see her first non-instructional work, this picture book for children. With cats!

I got our public library to order it in for me, because I don't really have a need for another picture book in my unwieldy collection -- or so I thought. Catside Up is Absolutely Unbearably Cute and I covet it for my knitting bookshelf. The fact that patterns for most of these cats and many of their knitted accessories (that piano!) are available for purchase (check Ravelry.com) so a knitter can re-create these adorable scenes makes it even better.

I'm a little concerned though in case my grandchildren love this book as much as I do and see it as a catalogue (ooh. pun) to order tiny cute knitted cats and all their accoutrements from their resident knitting Nonna. But they are fun to create and I wouldn't mind much. Okay, not gonna lie, I would be thrilled!

Only quibble: in the phrase "swept high and away by a cat-shaped balloon", away is printed bold as a preposition and by is not. In this sentence, away is an adverb and by is the preposition. I don't think it matters to the intended audience for the book. ( )