Greg is moping about and his friends try to get him to play with them. They suggest all sorts of fun activities, but Greg says no. In Jack Kurland’s “The Cat Who Couldn’t Be Bothered,” Greg the cat finally admits to feeling sad and his supportive crew of friends comes to the rescue.

I loved how Greg’s friends try and try to engage Greg, then finally figure out how to best support their sad friend.

This story would be great for young children who are feeling sad, but are having a hard time identifying that emotion or why they might not feel quite themselves.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I absolutely adore this book. It deals with a rather difficult yet sadly common topics among children today in a light-hearted and heart-warming way.

I like cats. I like picture books. But I did not find this little book to be worth recommending. The last line of the book was dumb and not really funny.

This was the cutest thing ever.
I know it's supposed to teach children about friendship and sadness and being there for each other and it definitely does all that BUT I am in my late twenties and I'm feeling so asocial and I'm channelling this cat as my spirit animal.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher. This is a cute book that lets everyone know it’s ok to want to do nothing. The cat’s friends keep asking him to go do things with them but he keeps declining. In the end they all understand why.

I feel like I've just been on an emotional rollercoaster. This was, on the whole, funny, and I'm glad the cat was able to open up about his feelings. I think young kids will enjoy the silliness with the illustrations and cats splooting, and as they get older will understand feelings and the importance of talking about them.

Cute short children's book and great for opening up discussions about feeling sad. I will be reading it again with my grandchildren.
I liked the last page, I can empathise with that.

This is actually an incredibly sweet book and I can see myself using it in a few different contexts with the children I work with.

In essence it’s about a little cat who keeps saying he can’t be bothered to do any of the fun things his friends invite him to do. Eventually we learn that this is linked to him just not feeling about to do anything some days and it wonderfully opens the doors to lots of discussions around mental health.

I would say the ‘The Cat Who Couldn’t Be Bothered’ is a great introduction to broaching the topic of mental health and a useful jumping off point. On it’s own it’s not going to fully explore mental health but this could be a really useful tool to get the ball rolling.

I also adored the art work - simple, engaging and yet it conveys everything it needs to beautifully.

This book is coming out on the 26th March 2024

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This is a lovely children’s book, an easy read. The illustrations really stand out and are vibrant, energetic, detailed and engaging. The core message is of empathy, and listening to your friends. The final page of the story didn’t seem quite consistent with the key messages of the book, but didn’t detract significantly from the overall experience.

This is a cute children’s picture book. The pictures are simple and engaging. The story looks at inviting others to join in with you and the other person saying no thanks. But also maybe going further and trying to find out why they ‘can’t be bothered’ and dealing with that appropriately. Finally as someone who continually gets names wrong, I liked the ending. Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Francis Lincoln Children’s Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

I adored the illustrations, but felt the storyline and overall message a bit lacking. I think more could have been expanded on the emotion of feeling down, and not wanting to do anything.

This is a really adorable book! It’s a fun and light-hearted way to cover and introduce a potentially heavy topic. This is a great starting point for kiddos when figuring out their feelings and emotions. The pictures are also super cute and colorful!

This is an adorable book. The illustrations are simple and interesting and the story is so accepting of just feeling how you’re feeling. The ending made me snort. Extremely cute, with a funny twist.

Cats are for me so anything cat related I love. I buy all the little people in my life books at any opportunity and if there is cats in them all the better. This is perfect a lovely story exploring feelings , gorgeous drawings of cats and in general a lovely book for little cat people. On my gift list