My Cat Isis, written by Catherine Austen is an interesting fiction/non-fiction picture book. It seems to me that a lot of picture books use the vehicle of a story to convey informative facts to children.
In this case, a child shares facts about the goddess Isis and compares them to his cat Isis.
For example, it opens with
Isis was one of 1500 gods and goddesses worshiped by the ancient Egyptians.
My cat Isis is the one and only cat in our family.
Some of the comparisons are quite interesting, and I love the type of thinking that it inspires:
Isis started off as a minor goddess, but she grew more popular with each generation.
My Isis was the runt of the litter, but with our love she grew big and strong.
The illustrations by Virginie Egger could spark some conversations as well. Just like the cover, they are an interesting combination of real photos, line drawings, and collage-type techniques. The goddess Isis drawings are like Egyptian cave art.
Jennifer Donovan enjoys experiencing art via children’s books and doesn’t often feel as if she’s being talked down to when she reads them. She blogs at Snapshot.