Where is Tippy Toes? Review

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Lewin, Betsy. 2010. Where is Tippy Toes? Ill. Betsy Lewin. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 978-1-4169-3808-8


Where is Tippy Toes? follows an orange and white cat throughout his day from sunrise to sunset. Everyone knows how he spends his day, but when night comes, his whereabouts are a mystery. The little mouse knows to hide when he hears Tippy Toe's soft tread outside his hole in the wall. Everyone sees Tippy Toes run through the garden to escape the water hose. They hear a sleepy purr when he naps in the dresser drawer and see the messy result when he tiptoes across the kitchen counter through the blueberry pie! But when the moon is full, no one knows where the feisty cat goes, except one little person in a warm, snugly bed.


 Any child who has had or wants to have a pet will delight in turning the pages of Where is Tippy Toes?  to see what the furry feline will do next. Although the family isn't depicted, the household as seen from a cat's eye view is one that most children will relate to with a yard, a messy drawer full of play clothes, and a kitchen counter that Tippy Toes runs across.


Children will enjoy solving the mystery of where Tippy Toes goes when the moon is out as they follow his activities from day to night. His routine reflects the daily routine a young child might experience as the energetic cat plays outside in the garden, takes a nap in a bedroom, and walks through a pie that looks like a tasty dinnertime dessert before finding a perfect place to sleep for the night.


Lewin's gentle rhyming text is perfectly balanced by her lively, bright, watercolor illustrations. The book is inviting and interactive with die cut pages and flaps that are lifted to reveal Tippy Toe's activities as the day progresses into night. Where is Tippy Toes? is fun to share with a group or with a child in your lap because the illustrations are bold enough to see in a group setting, but the interactive pages are delightful for one set of little hands to explore.


Where is Tippy Toes? is a book virtually anyone can enjoy because the rhyming text draws the reader in and the bold watercolor illustrations are a delight to the eye. A lesson in handling the pages carefully will help the book last through many readings as it surely will become a bedtime favorite.


Betsy Lewin was awarded the silver medal from the Society of Illustrators and a Caldecott Honor for Click, Clack, Moo; Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin and an Honor for the Ted Geisel Award for Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa by Erica Silverman. She has had many books on the New York Times Bestseller list.


Publisher's Weekly reviewed Where is Tippy Toes? in July of 2010 stating that "...smudgy watercolors--traced with bold, chalky outlines--convey Tippy's ever-inquisitive but lovable feline nature..." and suggested that readers who are intrigued about the lives of their pets will enjoy the book. In September 2010, School Library Journal noted, "Rhyming sentences come together with the turn of a page and continue to the satisfying page turn at the end. This cat's sun up to sun down routine makes an excellent choice for those looking for a new bedtime story."


I used Where is Tippy Toes? for an impromptu story time this week when an ESL student came in to register for class and her three children were restless. The children all spoke English well, so language was not an issue. The children enjoyed the interactive nature of the book and asked me to read it again when I finished. Afterwards, we talked about our pets and what we did when they were naughty, like Tippy Toes was when he stepped in the pie. They related to the mischievous kitty and we all thoroughly enjoyed the conversation he sparked. Where is Tippy Toes? could be included in a story time about pets, cats, or bedtime to good effect.


Amazon. Editorial reviews. http://www.amazon.com/Where-Tippy-Toes-Betsy-Lewin/dp/product-description/1416938087/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books. (Accessed September 6, 2013).

Lewin, Betsy. 2013. http://www.betsylewin.com/. (Accessed September 6, 2013).