Princess Puffybottom has a perfect cat’s life. She rules her household while her subjects—the two human women who live with her—take care of her every need. But a rambunctious new puppy threatens the peace of her realm—and could there be even more change on the horizon?
Princess Puffybottom … and Darryl
After a while, though, she realizes there could be benefits to having a devoted subject who worships her. She comes to tolerate him “most of the time.” On the final page, we see them curled on the sofa together as the book concludes, “At least her subjects wouldn’t be bringing home any more surprises”—but as we read this, we see on the opposite page that the two-woman couple (one Black, one Asian) is walking in the door carrying a baby. It’s a deftly done “show me, don’t tell me” moment. Mueller has kept the focus of the images at cat’s-eye level until this last spread, so that until then, we never see any of the human faces and are tempted not to pay much attention to the people. One could go back through the book, however, and spot clues to what’s happening—one woman has her hand on what we now realize is a pregnant belly; a party scene is now read as a baby shower—but Mueller throws readers off the scent until the big reveal.
This is a terrific book for any child expecting a new sibling. The analogy of Darryl coming into the house is clear—but the human baby at the end reinforces the parallel, adds a fun twist, and makes it obvious the creators aren’t trying to avoid showing a same-sex couple with a real child by substituting animals. (See my longer discussion of the latter approach here.)
Notably, too, the couple in the book could have easily been a different-sex couple without changing a word of the text. Nielsen told Kirkus in an interview, though, “I knew from the very beginning that the pets’ parents would be two women. But I wanted to represent them in a very quiet way. I didn’t want their relationship to be the story; I just wanted it to be.” Kudos to her for that. This is a rare (and much appreciated) LGBTQ-inclusive children’s book that doesn’t center on the fact of LGBTQ identity. Not that such books don’t have their place; they’ve just dominated the literature. We LGBTQ people are more than just our LGBTQ identities, and our books should reflect that.
Having said that, the incidental nature of the queer characters means they’re not reflected in the book’s cataloging information. That’s appropriate (it’s not “about” the queer characters), but means this terrific book may not catch the eye of those specifically seeking LGBTQ-inclusive books. That means it’s up to us to spread the word. Go do.
This is also just a great story for animal lovers. Princess Puffybottom is imperious and personable (and her name is awesome); Darryl is all energy and enthusiasm. Princess Puffybottom’s two teeny fangs are both an adorable touch and a sign that she’s more than just a gorgeous ball of fur—she’s also a warrior princess. Bonus points to the publisher, too, for using photos of Nielsen and Mueller’s cats in lieu of the usual author/illustrator photos on the back flap and writing their bios through the cats’ eyes. The humans’ deep love of cats shines through every page.
Don’t just take my word for it. The book is one of the venerable Kirkus’ Best Picture Books of 2019. Is it too much to hope that there will be a sequel?