Celestial Timepiece

By Joyce Carol Oates

Illustrated by Dave Mottram

Cherie loves being the only kitty in the Smith family . . . until the day a new kitten arrives.

The New Kitten is allowed to be naughty, but Cherie is not. The new kitten follows Cherie everywhere she goes. The new Kitten wants to be Cherie’s best friend, even when Cherie hisses, “Go away!”

All Cherie wants is to be the only kitty in her home once again. But when the new kitten gets herself in trouble one day, will Cherie be the one who can help her?

Two cats learn how to share a family and a home in this charming picture book from acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates and illustrator Dave Mottram.

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Reviews

Publishers Weekly, February 28, 2019

Mottram’s digitally enhanced drawings play up the kitten’s adorable saucer-green eyes as she enjoys everything the elder cat is forbidden from doing…

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2019

Award-winning novelist Oates throws down an astonishingly clumsy new-sibling picture book, wordy paragraphs displaying no trust whatsoever in her illustrator to help shoulder the narrative load. Mottram’s mostly realistic, soft-edged, digitally created illustrations are attractive, but his manga-eyed cats only serve to boost the treacle factor.