What I’m reading: “Mr. Puffball, Stunt Cat to the Stars,” by Constance Lombardo

Sometimes you start reading a book and you know immediately you’re going to love it.

That’s how I felt about author/illustrator Constance Lombardo’s Mr Puffball: Stunt Cat to the Stars, the story of a young cat from Jersey who seeks his fortune in Tinseltown.

The writing is warm and witty, with just enough cat-themed puns to give the reader a laugh on every page, and a story that turns as much on friendship as on the vicissitudes of stardom. But what makes the book is the illustrations. Lombardo has credited a wide range of artists as inspiration for her black-and white drawings, including the idiosyncratic and heavily-lined style of B.Kliban, Edward Gorey’s silver-screen gothics, and Garry Trudeau’s satirical realism.

But the drawings in Mr. Puffball are their own thing, at once sophisticated (especially where they reference classic cinema images) and humorous (especially with their voice-ballooned dialogue) and touchingly, well, human. Just as sometimes happens with Greg Kinney’s Wimpy Kid books, the drawings often offer us an insight not provided by the protagonist’s narration. In Mr. Puffball’s case, it’s often a reminder of how small and vulnerable he really is in what is ostensibly an adult world—and how much heart this young cat has to have in order to pursue his Hollywood dreams.