The Cheshire Cheese Cat (YA)

Book #7 Read in 2013
The Cheshire Cheese Cat by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright (YA)

This is a cute book.  As an English major, I enjoy the literary characters and references to the works of Charles Dickens.  Skilley is a street cat who ends up being allowed to live in the The Cheshire Cheese inn.  As rent, he is supposed to hunt the evergrowing mouse population.  But Skilley has a secret--he does not like to eat mice.  He would much rather eat cheese. Skilley meets Pip, an intelligent mouse and the two strike up a deal that works well for them both, until an evil street cat, Pinch, is brought in to help decrease the mouse population.  Pinch definitely prefers mice to cheese as his diet mainstay.

This book was cute.  The animal characters were cute, as were the illustrations throughout the book.  The idea of such a unlikely friendship could be used as a lesson to younger readers.  I enjoyed this book.