Digby and Kate 1-2-3

"Digby and Kate" is a cute little book consisting of five short stories aimed at toddlers and young beginning readers. Digby the dog and Kate the cat have small arguments over the kind of small issues that longtime couples and friends often face: Annoying habits, different interests, and out-of-synch temperaments. Like most companions, Digby and Kate work out their problems, sooner or later, and get back to what they really want most of all: Being together. OF course, it's not all making nice with these two. Author Baker gives each friend a snappy tongue, and enough knowledge about the other to "push their buttons (or, perhaps, "pull their strings," for the cat). When Digby asked Kate to stop her incessant counting in the story "1, 2, 3," she does, only to then begin reciting the alphabet! The friends achieve a more mutually satisfying solution in "The Piano." Kate is impatient with Digby's piano practicing and wonders when he's going to "play some real music." Digby holds his ground ("I'm not ready yet"), but gives Kate some headphones so that they can each enjoy the music they want to hear. Some fundamental Canine/Feline differences are explored in the almost violent "That Mouse." When Digby urges Kate to make friends with a mouse, she pretends to give it a try. The mouse (cleverly shown listening on the other side of the mouse hole) believes Kate's transformation, and appears at the entrance. Kate almost grabs the mouse! "Boots" is one of the funniest stories, because it just rings so true. Kate is very, very excited about her brand new boots. To show herself that they're waterproof, she jumps into each increasingly large puddle on the way to Digby's, each time exclaiming how her feet are still dry. However, Kate seems oblivious to the fact the rest of her is getting soaking wet with each joyous jump. The last story, "Copycat" has the weakest plot, but again shows Digby not completely giving into Kate's manipulations, with the two friends eventually making up. Baker writes sweet stories with just enough conflict to keep kids interested. The wisecracks and verbal sparring are clever, funny, and add to the realism. The small but colorful illustrations by Ms. Winborn allow plenty of comfortable space between text and pictures, but I was disappointed in the pictures of the two protagonists. Kate is just not that appealing, and Digby looks more like a wolf than a dog. A small complaint, but one wishes that the illustrations were as excellent as the stories. Still, this is a nice junior "chapter book" (each story is about 9 or so small pages long) for the small fry.