Cats Are A Liquid

Written by Rebecca Donnelly Publisher: Godwin Books (Henry Holt)

Cats fill./ Cats spill./ Cats flow downhill.// Cats tip./ Cats drip./ Cats grip, snip, rip.// Cats are a liquid/ Except when they’re not.

Inspired by an Ig Nobel Prize–winning investigation of how cats behave like liquids, this book introduces some of the physical properties of liquids—they adapt to fit a container, they flow like fluids—and is just pure fun.

Like its inspiration, it makes you laugh, then think. Back matter includes a brief introduction to the different physical states: solid, liquid, gas.

Process

The initial sketches (above) show the milk spill covering a floor, but to make it more “downhill” as the text says, the revised sketch (below) shows a ramp for carrying up cat food into the lab. Also, the cat in the beaker has chubbier cheeks.