Lazy Cat

The tale of a cat that is so lazy he drives his friend Doodle the Dog mad. Can they learn to live together?

About the Author :
Julia worked for 20 years in animation, including a 12 year period working in the US for Dreamworks. When she had her daughter, she left animation and moved towards children's illustration. On returning to the UK, she did an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, graduating in 2015. Her first picture book as author/illustrator is Giraffe on a Bicycle, published by Macmillan. Julia lives in Kent, close to the countryside, woods and the seaside.

Review :
A great story for young children, which has many opportunities for discussion and learning about being equal, compromising and friendship Captivating from the cover, which shows lazy cat taking a selfie with a selfie stick, this is a modern book for the modern child. Inside, the endpapers show the photographs - with great humour. The book is about the friendship between Lazy Cat and Doodle Dog; one which seems rather one-sided as Doodle Dog spends a great deal of time running after Lazy Cat. When Lazy Cat falls asleep during a game of Hide-and-Seek, Doodle Dog decides to give him his comeuppance. It's a well-illustrated title, with great expressiveness and humour, but the crux of the plot relies upon the movement of the television aerial to achieve good reception on the TV - something which sadly seems outdated for a modern child who would more likely know what a selfie-stick is. If that's explained, though, the brilliant expressions of when a friendship works and when it doesn't makes this a fun title to read. Lazy Cat takes a wonderful look at friendship and the fact that friendship is reciprocal and involves giving as well as receiving.This is an amusing way of looking at how a friendship works and we have total sympathy for Doodle Dog who, although happy to share and help his friend, doesn't always get the best deal out of the relationship. Pizza 'sharing' and toy 'sharing' aren't done particularly fairly and Lazy Cat is far too lazy to tidy up after himself and even lazier to walk to his food bowl! Much of the humour in the story comes from Julia Woolf's illustrations which beautifully convey the imbalance in the relationship between the two friends. Just looking at the cover you see how selfish Lazy Cat can be and it's the same when the two friends play. But the most humour comes from the old fashioned television, complete with aerial, which causes their big problem. I had to explain how televisions and aerials used to work when I was a child!! This is a wonderful story to use in the classroom when discussing the theme of friendship. Friendships can often cause conflicts in classrooms and while the subject is dealt with humorously in the story, it can be used to stimulate discussion and give children the opportunity to talk about their own friendships and the emotions that accompany them. Oh dear, the mere presence of a selfie stick on the cover of this book will tell you all you need to know about the moggy character in this story...! Meet "Lazy Cat" by Julia Woolf, the hilarious picture book tale of a dog and cat just trying to live together (going against EVERY SINGLE CONVENTION set down in the fine movie "Ghostbusters"). The dog, wonderfully named Doodle, epitomises the phrase "long suffering" and his housemate, the titular puss, is an absolutely terrible friend. Julia Woolf's hilarious tale is purrfect, capturing poor Doodle's hang-dog expressions absolutely brilliantly. It's not often we (as cat lovers) come out of a book cheering for the dog, so it's nice change for us. It is the pictures that tell this story about a greedy, selfish cat who thinks he is friendly with the dog in his life, but isn't. Friendship is a two-way street, and it may take more than one lesson for Lazy to learn this. The pictures, cartoon style, have animation and verve and are fun, but one has to say that perhaps it would be a good thing if doodles gave up completely on this particular friendship. His 'knowing eye' gives us the idea that he just may.