Susan Harari, reviewer for Youth Services Book Review, rates Alex Willmore’s picture book, It’s MY Sausage, 4 out of 5 stars;
What did you like about the book? Five hungry kitties lunge at an unattended dinner plate, holding various vegetables and a luscious, bright orange sausage. The yellow cat is the first to acquire and defend the prize, setting off a slapstick montage in which everyone else tries to grab the goods. The remaining kitties try a fishing line and disguises while the beleaguered victor sets out mousetraps and string to foil their plots. Alas, their greed is their downfall and a sleepy brown dog gets the snack, leaving the cats with nothing but veggies. A good fable on the merits of sharing.
The illustrations look like old-fashioned lithography, with appealing blobby shapes, an autumnal color palette and some heavy, black lines for contrast and features. The text appears in a variety of hand-lettering that almost looks like it was added casually with a black Sharpie. This is a straight-forward tale and the simple artwork works well with the morality lesson.
To whom would you recommend this book? Certainly cat lovers. This could work well as a class read aloud (pre-k to kindergarten) on the pitfalls of selfishness. If a class was working on Aesops’ fables and retellings, it could be an exemplar.