Louie Chin

This is an excellent new picture book! Bodega Cat tells all about what a bodega is and shows a day in the life of the cat (Chip) who runs it with his family. The artwork is wonderfully eye-catching, colorful, rich, and comic-like. I appreciate the various layouts of illustrations on each spread, sometimes being full page and sometimes being more like panels that show the quick paced environment of the bodega and all the daily tasks Chip helps to complete.

I also love the focus on family and community and how not only does everyone work together in the family to run the bodega, but the other shops in the community all work and live together and all provide different but equally important resources for their community. Bodega Cat is also pretty informational, incorporating little facts into the story through explaining what something means or just showing a picture of what the different food look like. There is even a further focus on the accessibility that the bodega offers, mentioning that not everyone can come to the bodega, but they deliver! They also provide newspapers in many different languages.

Honestly, what is there not to love about a bodega that is a proud and integral part of its community, providing easily accessible and varied resources to it's customers at all times of the day? And that's not even to mention the shopkeep that I am sure is everyone's favorite- Chip the cat.… (mere)