Where is Tippy Toes?

Title:  Where is Tippy Toes?

Author:  Betsy Lewin

Illustrator:  Betsy Lewin

Publisher:  Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Publication date:  2010

ISBN:  978+1-4169-3808-8

Brief Plot Summary:   Where is Tippy Toes? takes the reader on a journey as he searches for an adventurous, orange cat named Tippy Toes.  Tippy Toes’ curiosity leads him to explore a mouse hole, chase fireflies, dodge a water hose, and even on a trek through a blueberry pie.

Critical analysis:

            Betsy Lewin’s writing style in Where is Tippy Toes? is simple and each page holds part of a rhyme.  There is no dialogue, just simple depictions of the adventures of the curious, orange cat.  The story is told in the voice of Tippy Toes’ “human” as he tracks the cat through the activities of his day.  The book’s simple plot allows children in the targeted age group to easily understand the story and follow the cat’s progress along with the narrator, presumably while quickly learning the rhyme of the story.  The setting quickly changes as Tippy Toes progresses throughout his day.

            The illustrations beautifully depict this loveable, mischievous orange cat as a beloved pet.  The bright colors add to the drama of the adventures, highlighting the light shining in the mouse’s hole and the beams of the fireflies.  The theme of the book seems to be that, no matter where Tippy Toes goes or what mischief he initiates, he always comes back to curl up in the warmth and safety of the home where he is loved.

Awards won:   No awards for this title.

Review excerpts:

Tippy Toes is an orange cat with expressive lime-green eyes and a penchant for exploration. Gentle rhymes speculate on Tippy's self-assured movements, as die-cut pages and flaps reveal his daily (and nightly) activities. A nervous mouse in a hole knows "the soft pit pat…/of Tippy Toes's step on his welcome mat," and when Tippy steps out for his nocturnal adventures, his zingy eyes blend in with a sky full of fireflies. Sometimes Tippy's "purring snore" gives him away, as when he sleeps in a messy dresser drawer, unveiled behind a large flap, and sometimes it's the tracks he leaves behind: "And everyone knows, but they don't know why,/ he tippy toed through the blueberry pie!" Lewin's (Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type) smudgy watercolors--traced with bold, chalky outlines--convey Tippy's ever-inquisitive but lovable feline nature, as he trades his nighttime wanderings to curl up with a sleeping boy beneath a starry blanket: "No, nobody knows where Tippy Toes creeps/when darkness falls and the whole world sleeps… except me." Readers fascinated by the lives of their pets should welcome this tender offering. Ages 3-7. (July)

2010. "Where Is Tippy Toes?." Publishers Weekly 257, no. 50: 40. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed June 10, 2013).

Tippy Toes is a big, friendly-looking orange cat, and during the day, this rhyming text explains, he's easy to find as he gambols about his usual haunts or snores contentedly in a dresser drawer. "But nobody knows where Tippy Toes goes," the narrator goes on to explain, "when the moon is full and the night wind blows"--nobody, that is, save the speaker, a tow-headed kid curled up in bed alongside a Tippy Toes all tucked up under lift-the-flap covers. There's a gentle bounce to the verse that makes it suitable for both daytime and bedtime, and the touches of humor and kitty realism (Tippy Toes tracks across the blueberry pie, leaving berry-tinted pawprints in his wake) make the progression as enjoyable as the final reveal. Lewin aims for maximum closeup appeal in her amiable watercolor illustrations; colors are strong and simple, with spring greens (and cat's-eye green) a strong presence throughout and sunny floral yellow a cheerful accomplice.
Compositions are neat and deftly varied, and the periodic die-cut apertures or lift-the-flap reveals enhance the playful undertones as well as enticing little hands to grab hold of reading in a most literal fashion. A cute kitty, a resonant text, and some entertaining peekaboo reveals--what more could a toddler want? DS

2010. “Where is Tippy Toes?.”  The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. Accessed on June 10, 2013. http://bccb.lis.illinois.edu/.

PreS-K — His white paw, green eyes, and orange tail peek out from behind die-cuts, but readers have to lift the flaps to see Tippy Toes in action. The feline perks up to watch a butterfly in the garden, takes a shortcut across the kitchen counter by walking through a blueberry pie, and darts off the page to avoid a spray of water. Lewin's vivacious cartoons capture a day in the life of a lively cat, in plain view by day, mysterious at night. Oversize watercolors outlined in a thick black line add humor to the text (a "No Cats!" sign above the mouse hole) and the bright hues seen in the flowers, sun, and cat's fur enhance the changing backgrounds. Rhyming sentences come together with the turn of a page and continue to the satisfying page turn at the end. This cat's sun up to sun down routine makes an excellent choice for those looking for a new bedtime story.—Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada --Tanya Boudreau (Reviewed September 1, 2010) (School Library Journal, vol 56, issue 9, p130)

2010. “Where is Tippy Toes?.”  School Library Journal 56, no.9:130.  NoveList K-8 Plus, EBSCOhost (accessed on June 10, 2013).

Connections:

Other titles by Betsy Lewin include Quack, Quack, Moo:  Cows that Type; Giggle, Giggle, Quack; and Click, Clack, Splish, Splash.