Violet Goes to the Country (Mitford for Children, Book 2)
Jan Karon's Mitford Years, a Christian fiction series for adults, features character Cynthia Coppersmith, who writes children's books about a bookseller named Alice and her cat Violet. That explains the confusing abundance of author names on the jacket: "Jan Karon Presents Cynthia Coppersmith's Violet Goes to the Country . . . story by Melanie Cecka." The second offering in the picture-book series, this story concerns Violet's first trip to a farm, where Alice visits Aunt Lydia and grumpy Uncle Leo. Running from a squawking chicken, Violet trips Uncle Leo, who spills a stack of paint cans. The next day, as he milks a cow, it moos and startles Violet, who knocks over the pail. Later, after Uncle Leo helps the frightened cat down from a high tree branch, he begins to warm up to Violet. Although the ending is predictable and the text is a bit long for many preschoolers, the writing sympathetically portrays the cat's rather childlike feelings, and McCully's ink and watercolor illustrations add immensely to the book's appeal. Phelan, Carolyn