The Cat Way

Sara Lundberg's 2024 picture book is built on a delightful reversal: the human follows the cat this time, and what the cat notices — and insists upon — slowly transforms the human's experience of the same familiar walk. The two-part structure gives the book real narrative shape, the watercolor and gouache illustrations won the 2024 New York Times and New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Award, and the underlying themes of perspective and compromise are the kind that reward both child and adult readers. The honest caveat is that at 66 pages this is longer than a typical picture book and may need more than one sitting with younger children, and the thematic subtlety will likely land more fully with adults reading alongside. For families who love beautifully illustrated books with something genuine to say, this is a worthy award winner.