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Scat, Scat (1940) by Sally R. Francis ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This time, I read a small book that was a gift from my parents. It has the name Donna McLean written in pencil on the front flyleaf. The cover art is damaged, but the inside illustrations are intact and incredibly gorgeous! I loved the colors, and that thick art style from the first half of the 20th century is always a treat to see. It was illustrated by Elizabeth E. Collison.
Scat, Scat is an adorable book that is about 30 pages long. It tells a story of a little white kitten who is, frankly, just living life as a stray, but everyone she encounters is prejudiced against felines, apparently. Every time she walks up to anyone and says “meow” she gets run off. Everyone says “Scat, Scat, go ‘way little cat!” Pretty rude, actually.
This is the face of our heroine who had just been sprayed by a man who was sprinkling his lawn with with a garden hose. He sprayed her just for walking up and saying “meow”! It is my favorite picture in the book. I feel like that sometimes, too, little kitty.
Finally, the little white kitten found a flower box. The flower box was Rosy Runabout’s. Rosy Runabout was delighted to find the little white kitten. Here is an actual photo of Rosy finding the kitten. Note the flying braids.
The little white kitten had found a new home! She was now Rosy Runabout’s new pet. I imagine that she is just a teensy bit like Elmyra Duff from the 90’s animated television program Tiny Toons.
The two had lots of fun together. This picture of Rosy and her new baby is hilarious to me.
….And they all lived happily ever after!
This book was precious. The pictures are priceless. I think it should be reprinted for children today.
When looking for information on Sally R. Francis, I could find limited information. Two books came up when searching her. One was this one, and the other was The Goat Who Went To School. I think Scat, Scat was the more popular of the two. Searching brings up multiple different covers, all with the same image but different looks. I did not find anything on Elizabeth E. Collison, the illustrator.
I gave this 4 stars for cuteness factor. If we saw what Rosy Runabout named the kitten, I’d have given 5 stars.
The artwork is distinctive, and so is the hand-drawn blue text. I don’t think I’ve seen anything that looks like this in children’s books. I’ve also never heard of the publisher. Sweet story. 🙂
Children’s books of the 30s to early 60s were almost always a work of art!