Tom and Francine

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

Tom and Francine is a romp for small children, with zany verse couplets
that rival those of Dr. Seuss. The protagonists are two cats in a large,
modern city. The plot is archetypal: a daring rescue of a damsel in
distress.

Lively language and hilarious illustrations distinguish this love
story. The vibrant color, sheer energy, and intriguing detail of Eugenie
Fernandes’s illustrations are not easily forgotten. Inventive comic
details, like the animal drivers in the zoo of modern traffic, repay
careful attention on every page.

Sylvia Fraser has published eight books of fiction and nonfiction, but
this is her first children’s book. Her engaging characters are a
barnyard tomcat with “the right stuff” and a “snooty” city cat
Tom meets in a park. Francine rebuffs Tom’s approach—“Don’t make
me be rude. Just step aside, please / I don’t talk to strangers in
case they have fleas”—until he saves her from a ravenous pit bull.
Then love flowers. Francine learns—“It’s not fair to judge any cat
by his cover”—that true character will shine through. Highly
recommended.