A Curious Collection of Cats by Betsy Franco
Franco, B. (2009). A Curious Collection of Cats. Emeryville, CA. Tricycle Press.
Summary: Betsy Franco explores the world of cats with this book of concrete poetry. Working closely with her illustrator, Michael Wertz, Franco’s poetry takes the form of tails and whiskers, tongues and paws. Each poem gives us a humorous look into the life of a different cat, and illustrates their quirks with colorful abandon.
Thoughts: I am a cat lover. While I don’t mind dogs, I will always dote more on my three cats than I will our old beagle. And I know that’s probably not fair, but I can’t help it. So it was a delight to read through Franco’s concrete poetry about my favorite pet. Wertz’s illustrations are colorful and hilarious, and match with Franco’s words perfectly. I loved the cat haikus, as well as “Techno Cat” and “Binky’s Kittens.” But there were so many beautifully illustrated poems to choose from. “Bingo’s Birthday Party,” “Hot Daze,” and “Symmetricats” in particular are gorgeous works of art. But each of the poems brings out the personality of every individual cat. This is a book for cat lovers for sure.
From Kirkus: Franco’s witty but uneven collection of concrete poems celebrating feline antics is accompanied by striking illustrations done in pencil and finished in monoprint and Photoshop. Atop rich, textured backgrounds, cats—each one bursting with personality—stretch, fight, perch, leap, rest and pounce. Each image is saturated in bright, often fluorescent colors, incorporating the text within them. One poem, for example, called “Prickles vs. the Golden Retriever,” is printed on the spiked-up fur of a cat’s back. It reads: “Prickle’s [sic] fur / is sticking out / His back is arched. / His teeth are bared. / The dog he caught / in our backyard / is whimpering / and very scared.” An orange cat, with angry, puffed-up tail, arched back and bared teeth, occupies a quarter of the page, towering over the dog, who has flattened himself to the ground; readers see only his head, with a single tear coming from his eye, and a stretched-out paw. Capturing the spirit of each verse, Wertz turns a collection of otherwise unremarkable visual poems into a true treat for the eyes.
Kirkus. (2010). Kirkus Review: A Curious Collection of Cats. Kirkus. Kirkus Media. Retrieved August 8, 2017 from: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/betsy-franco/a-curious-collection-of-cats/
Potential Library Uses: I would use this book for a Poetry Month program with children. We do a third grade learning activity club every month during the school year, and for April I would plan to do a poetry writing and reading activity with them. Each participant would take home a couple poetry books, including this one, and would read through them in preparation for our April program. In April they would then talk about the poems they read, maybe read one or two of them out loud, and then write their own poetry. Franco’s book provides an excellent example of concrete poetry, and this may be one of the mediums the children choose to write in. They could also, using this format, illustrate their poem as well.
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