The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee by Laurie Cinotto

If you are a fan of cute animal blogs, such as Cute Overload or The Daily Kitten, you are just the reader for The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee by Laurie Cinotto. The author of this book has been fostering litters of kittens and running her Itty Bitty Kitty Committee blog* for years. I can not give you actual dates Cinotto has been fostering, for I saw none in the book anywhere. I suppose there is no need, for cute kittens are cute kittens forever, timelessly appealing, especially when captured so expertly by Cinotto's photography. Just how does she get groups of kittens to sit still and look at her?

You can begin to guess how long Cinotto has been fostering by counting the families in her photo gallery. I see 40 litters, all given interesting family names, such as the Bouviers, the Pettibones, the Livermore Four, the Lively Bunch, and the Trimble Tabby Trio. Each kitten has a first name, too, such as Willamena, Truman, Mimsey, and Sir Reginald. Bonnie, who has been following the IBKC blog for years tells me that some of the donors to Cinotto's fundraisers earned naming rights. Other names came from the author's knack for identifying characters.

The book The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee is more than just a photo collection. Cinotto includes practical information for anyone interested in either fostering or adopting kittens. She also recounts some of the highlights of her fostering career. Many of the stories involve her forever cat Charlene Butterbean, who has treated many generations of kittens as if they were her own. Other stories feature especially memorable kittens doing cute things.

Too bad it is not Christmas, as The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee would be a great gift to put under the tree of someone who loves pets. It could inflate library book circulation statistics, too. OCLC says that it is a juvenile book, but that never occurred to me. I know lots of people who will enjoy it.

Cinotto, Laurie. The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. Roaring Brook Press, 2014. 128p. ISBN 9781596439375.

*Cinotto is not fostering at this time, but there is a convenient index with links to posts for every kitten. Enjoy the archive.