Flabby Cat and Slobby Dog

If you remember Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke as Wayne and Waynetta Slob then the initial premise of this new collaboration between Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross will be familiar. Flabby Cat and Slobby Dog lounge on the sofa, with piles of dirty dishes in the sink, surrounded by food and the remains of food, whiling the days away in eating and sleeping; and finally realising that the sofa is shrinking and the cushions are getting bigger – ‘or so they like to think’ as Jeanne Willis’s refrain goes. Eventually, they are too big for the house and set off in search of Cunning Tiger and Wild Wolf, their TV celebrity cousins, hoping to live with them. The search for a new home proves long and arduous, involving crossing seas, mountains, forests and deserts and learning to live off the land, with little time for their previous soporific comforts. The predictable results of this anxiety and exercise become apparent in Tony Ross’s illustrations. When they return home, the former Flabby Cat and Slobby Dog look in the mirror and mistake their svelte and muscular selves for the celebrity cousins they have failed to find. Then, with their new taut minds and physiques, they discover some fresh and more energetic uses for the now vast sofa: as a trampoline, a climbing frame, or a boat to ride imaginary rapids and avoid imaginary sharks. Told with the wit and verve we have come to expect from this prize-winning partnership, it’s a book that will make you laugh while understanding the value of healthy eating and exercise.