Snickerdoodle Wigglebutt McFluffy-Paws and the Great Giggle Adventure by Toni L. Poll
A BookLife Review
Poll launches her lively picture book series with this introduction to a rambunctious Maine Coon kitten who seeks out fun and prizes friendship. Snickerdoodle Wigglebutt McFluffy-Paws has so much energy that she “zoomed like a fluffy freight train,” but she’s stopped in her tracks by the realization that best friend Fishy is nowhere in sight. In Poll’s Snickerdoodle Tales, a fish out of water can happily thrive—and even spend her time with a cat. Hoit’s illustration of Snickerdoodle finding Fishy in an overflowing laundry basket (a favorite feline hiding place) shows off their matching heart pendants and obvious affection. Hoit’s images have a pleasing chunkiness that makes them almost three-dimensional, and when he captures Snickerdoodle’s bouncing movement from her window seat to an armchair cushion to a throw rug, the “Thud!” that announces her landing is almost superfluous. Everything in this picture book is substantial, and that adds to Poll’s vision of coastal Maine as a ruggedly beautiful locale, especially on the bright summer day when Snickerdoodle and Fishy hear an unusually mournful sound from Sir Wigglesworth. This “sad little frog,” decked out in finery (including a top hat and monocle), has lost something precious to him.
Snickerdoodle and Fishy’s compassion will pull young readers into Sir Wigglesworth’s dilemma, and Poll’s flowing rhyme adds read-aloud appeal—it’s a pleasure to anticipate the next line ending. She creates a lovely mental image with “They followed the fireflies through soft ocean foam,” which is complemented by Hoit’s vivid sunset and Poll’s emotional couplet: “With giggles like treasure, they padded back home.” Exploring problem-solving, the value of friendship, and the positive effects of laughter, Snickerdoodle’s first adventure also contains an afterword describing a historic Maine lighthouse commissioned by George Washington. Poll effectively blends fantasy and reality in Snickerdoodle Wigglebutt McFluffy-Paws and the Great Giggle Adventure, creating a world young readers will enjoy getting lost in while evoking a landscape they’ll want to visit.
Takeaway: Energetic kitten transforms daily life in Maine into happy escapades.
Great for fans of: Sandy Ferguson Fuller’s My Cat, Coon Cat, Marianne Dubuc’s Fish and the Cat.
Production Grades
- Cover: A-
- Design and Typography: A-
- Illustrations: A-
- Editing: A
- Marketing Copy: A