“This story is not about a kitten.” But of course it is. It’s also about community, cooperation, and cumulative storytelling. While a girl and her mother (both Black) are out walking, their dog spots a kitten hiding under a car, “hungry and dirty, scared and alone, meowing sadly, needing a home.” It marks the start of a rescue effort that also involves others in their neighborhood. Each individual and their contribution is introduced before the previous characters and actions are reiterated in a text patterned on “The House That Jack Built.” A break in the pattern heightens the drama as the kitten is finally lured into a box. “This story is not about the child who asked, ‘Could we?’ ... or the man who offered some milk, or the twins who brought a box, or the woman who held the dog ...” It’s not about a kitten “now full-bellied and clean, no longer alone, purring happily. Home.” Lively text and colorful gouache illustrations tell an irresistible story inspired by a real-life rescue of a kitten in the author’s Brooklyn neighborhood.     (Ages 3-8)