A Spunky Orange Tabby Cat Stakes His Claim on the Childrens Picture Book World



April 24 2005 A spunky orange tabby cat in a brief moment of silence sits unassumingly atop the back of the sofa licking his little white paws Out of no where comes a large wooden square object that blocks the rooms only exit Immediately an investigation of the feline kind begins First there is a curious interest followed by a careful inquisition of the bellycreeping kind and finally a quick sniff before taking a step backwards then forward again to get another quick sniff You have just met Fred While you sit and look admirably at the brilliant illustrations the preschooler in your life giggles and grins in anticipation of what will happen next To you it seems predictable but to the wideeyed toddler sitting next to you Freds somewhat foreseeable nature is part of his charm Born not of the imagination but out of surveillance Fred the Cat follows the authors reallife cat Freddie on his zany adventures which keep the whole family watching and wondering what will come next He is quite a little entertainer says Erie Pennsylvania native and author Corinne Davis He comes up with the wildest and wackiest games to play that keep us entertained for hours Sometimes I think he believes hes a circus animal Davis has taken what she believes to be the most humorous things Fred has done and turned them into a series of picture books for preschool aged children the first of which is due out this spring She has collaborated on this project with her cousin Maria Sansone a recent graduate of Penn State University Maria has perfectly captured Fred in all of his glory journeying through his daily activities keeping everyone in smiles says Davis of Sansone The pair has long dreamed of getting together on a project like this Sansone reminisces When we were kids we used to write little plays and act them out for our family on holidays We used to make big plans for our futures that always involved doing something creative or with animals The dream has come finally come full circle After several rewrites months of sketching and even more months in search of a publisher Fred the Cat is ready for his debut Davis introductory story of Fred is a lighthearted comedy that follows him on his discovery of the baby gate and how much fun it is to leap in the air over it When we first installed a gate between our family room and our kitchen Fred was strangely fascinated He sat on the kitchen floor staring at the gate for quite some time then suddenly out of nowhere catapulted himself straight up in the air and over the gate from a seated and perfectly still position It was so random which made it even funnier Sansones lively illustrations make the tale all the more enjoyable The story is playful and fun so we wanted the illustrations to be that way too We wanted them to be simple but vibrant Test audiences of the underfourfeettall kind agree Davis 20monthold daughter Olivia recognizes her cat in all of the illustrations Fred she exclaims as her mother reads to her from the book She really enjoys it and finds it especially amusing that she knows everyone in the book The pair have also come together to create a website located at httpwwwfredthecatcom in promotion of their book So what does the future hold for Fred Right now says Sansone Im working on illustrations for our next book in the series Its a long process to get everything just right so I like to give myself plenty of time The second in the series unofficially titled Fred the Cat Freds Beginning follows Fred on his journey to find the justright family to live with Davis comments I like to look at things through Freds point of view I don think we chose Fred He definitely picked us for a reason The reason seems apparent Fred the Cat ISBN 1419604929 is published by MightyBook Inc an imprint of Booksurge Publishing and is currently available for sale on httpwwwbooksurgecom Fred will be available on Amazoncom later this spring and in bookstores nationwide this summer



A Spunky Orange Tabby Cat Stakes His Claim on the Childrens Picture Book World