Cat Shapes

Written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-1327-1

24 pp.

Ages 1–3

June 2026 

 

Aidan Cassie recognizes that cats can be very different, but she means more than just their sizes, colours, and personalities. Because cats are so curious and playful, they can also produce wonderfully eclectic shapes.

From Cat Shapes, written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Aidan Cassie, known for her charming picture books Sterling, Best Fork Dog Ever (2018) and Little Juniper Makes It Big (2019), seems to know cats well. She knows the curious ones who can jump in boxes and take on the shape of a square. She knows that a hungry one may want to jump into a goldfish bowl and become the shape of a circle. There's a fancy cat, a thirsty cat, a sneaky one, and a sleepy one too. And each one becomes the shape of what it enters. But Aidan Cassie knows the best shape that cats become, as do all cat lovers.

From Cat Shapes, written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

From Cat Shapes, written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Many concept books—those that teach a simple concept like letters, numbers, or colours—can become formulaic. Sometimes the author has a theme and wants the concept to fit into that theme. But Aidan Cassie does not do this. Cat Shapes is more than a book about shapes. Children will learn the basic shapes of square, circle, triangle, oval, rectangle, diamond, and more, but, because it's all based on the silly behaviours of cats, Cat Shapes does more than teach a concept. It delights with its authenticity and humour, speaking to cat lovers young and old. 

From Cat Shapes, written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Aidan Cassie's previous books have shown us the breadth of her illustrative style, but she's matched her digital artwork perfect to a concept book for very young children. There are just enough details to set the scene, whether it's a hungry cat eyeing a goldfish or one hiding in a drawer, so that little ones know what's going on. Even if they don't have cats, young readers will be able to look for the shapes in familiar settings and start to understand why cats do what they do. Cat Shapes may be about identifying common shapes but it's also a quick lesson in cat behaviour.

 

I wonder if the six distinct cats in Aidan Cassie's book are the same six that she names in her dedication because they are so unique. If so, I suspect she's seen a lot of adorable cat action over the years. With Cat Shapes, those cats can now add educators and shape-masters to their accomplishments. Of course, I always knew cats were clever. Cat Shapes just proves it.

Little Juniper Makes It Big

Written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie
Farrar Straus Giroux
978-0-374-31045-5
40 pp.
Ages 4-8
July 2019

Juniper is a little raccoon and she's tired of being so little. She sees the disadvantages of being small in a world made by adults for adults. Everything seems to be too high for her to reach, whether it be the sink, the door knob or an elusive jar of cookies. Even when she puts her engineering skills to work, with springboards and stilts, hoppers and heighteners, and cranes and catapults and balloons, "Juniper's efforts fell short." 

From Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

At school, Juniper realizes that she is actually of average size and even far larger than new student Clove whose size does not hinder her efforts at all. When Clove invites Juniper to her home, the raccoon anticipates lessons in "un-smallness" but she is pleasantly surprised to learn that, at "Clove's home, Juniper was adult-size."

From Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

Still, it's that grass-is-always-greener scenario because Juniper soon recognizes that she can't enjoy fun activities like swinging, playing dress-up, bouncing on the bed and even playing hide-and-seek when she's far larger than Clove. Nevertheless, Juniper's sleepover at Clove's helps her recognize how her own home was "very, nearly, almost perfect!"

From Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

Children are always in such a hurry to get bigger, older, taller and have more responsibilities, and the storytelling in Little Juniper Makes It Big suggests, without admonishing, that it's perfectly normal to see another world as more desirable. However, Juniper finally gets the message with the help of the even smaller Clove, whose optimism and determination abound, that her world is perfect for her right now.

Aidan Cassie, whose first picture book, Sterling, Best Dog Ever (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018) won the 2019 Joan Betty Stuchner–Oy Vey!–Funniest Children's Book Award in the picture book/board book category, again blends the humour of childhood innocence and the determination to be more, or at least our very best. Juniper sees her world as limiting because of her size but, with a change in perspective, courtesy of a tiny squirrel with a voluminous personality and oodles of spirit, Juniper is able to appreciate her home and life in new ways. That's a very positive message, heightened with the humour and charm of Aidan Cassie's illustrations. I was won over by her artwork in Sterling, Best Dog Ever and Little Juniper Makes It Big introduces us to a new gang of cartoon animals in engrossing settings. (Check out the cottage-like setting of the bathroom below.) Her characters have joy and frustration amidst the normalcy of family, home, and school and even little humans will be able to identify with them.  By creating empathy for cute animals who are experiencing what our own children may also be encountering, Aidan Cassie has found a way to teach, delight, reassure and entertain our youngest who just want to make it big too.

From Little Juniper Makes It Big by Aidan Cassie

Sterling, Best Fork Dog Ever: Book launch (Salt Spring Island, BC)

Join author-illustrator

Aidan Cassie 

for the launch of her first picture book

Sterling, Best Fork Dog Ever

 Written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie
Farrar Straus Giroux
978-0-374-30614-4
40 pp.
Ages 3-6
July 2018 

Reviewed here

on

Saturday, July 28, 2018

1-2 p.m.

at

Salt Spring Island Public Library

129 McPhillips Ave.

Salt Spring Island

There will be:

• an author reading

• a book giveaway

• crafts for children

• Sterling bookmarks and stickers

and

• cupcakes!

If you're fortunate enough to live in the vicinity of Salt Spring Island, 

do take in this book launch.  

Sterling, Best Fork Dog Ever

is a special picture book that is sure to be enjoyed by children, parents and teachers.

Read my review here.

 

Sterling, Best Fork Dog Ever

Written and illustrated by Aidan Cassie

Farrar Straus Giroux

978-0-374-30614-4

40 pp.

Ages 3-6

July 2018

If ever there was a picture book that promoted the idea that you can be anything you want to be but being yourself is probably best, it's Sterling, Best Fork Dog Ever. 

Sterling is a silver dachshund who lives in a box outside of the Butlery Cutlery Company which purports to be "Now Shipping to All the Best Homes." Home sounds like a nice promise to Sterling whose box was  "... like a house. But not much like a home. No home had wanted to keep Sterling, not for long." So Sterling slips into the factory and into a box of forks ready for shipping.

From Sterling, Best Dog Ever by Aidan Cassie

Determined that "This time will be different, he thought. I'll be different", Sterling makes sure that he is the best fork he can be. He stays as straight and as quiet and as silver as the other forks so that he can stay with the Gilbert family who see that he is different but quiet, small and "the most adorable thing ever!" But when the young girl wants to take him for  a walk or get him to sleep on her bed, Sterling remains fork-like. Then, when he's worried the family might not need him to be a fork, he reinvents himself as a whisk, a rolling pin, and more. It's not until he realizes the little girl is unhappy, and he finally sees all her puppy posters on the wall, that Sterling recognizes that "she just wanted him to be himself."

From Sterling, Best Dog Ever by Aidan Cassie

This picture book is darling! The angst of poor Sterling trying to be whatever is needed so that he could have a forever home is both heart-breaking and humourous.  He really thinks he can be a fork, a golf club and a paper towel holder. He's always been under the impression that being himself, a dog, just wasn't good enough. Shame on those who ever made him feel less for being himself.  And kudos to the little girl who saw him as "the huggable, snuggable, perfectly lovable dog" that he was.  To all the Sterlings and dogs and children and people who think they're not enough just being whom they are, you're wrong.  You are enough and you're perfect as you are.

From Sterling, Best Dog Ever by Aidan Cassie

Aidan Cassie is a new name in the youngCanLit world for me. Though this is her first published picture book, she was trained as an illustrator and animator and has been creating stories for many years, including the hand-drawn short film Sitting Next to Bernie (which also has an adorable puppy). If Sterling, Best Fork Dog Ever is any indication of the storytelling and artwork that Aidan Cassie can conceive, then I anticipate much positivity and more teachable moments in her future books.