Honors

• 2014 Recommended Reading List - Nevada Reading Association
  2014 Young Hoosier (Indiana) Book Award Nominee
  2014 Grand Canyon (Arizona) Young Reader Award Nominee
  2013 North Carolina Children's Book Award Nominee
  2013 AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award Winner
  2013 Mockingbird (Texas) Award Nominee
  2013 Chuckwagon (Texas) Picture Book Reading List
  2013 California Readers - California Collections List
  2013 Kentucky Bluegrass Award Nominee (Grades K-2)
  2013 Armadillo (Texas) Readers' Choice Award Nominee
  2013 Red Dot Children's Choice Award Nominee (Singapore)
  2013 Beehive (Utah) Poetry Book Award Nominee
  2012-13 Chickadee (Maine) Reader's Choice Award Nominee
  2012-13 Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee

  2012-13 Rhode Island Children's Book Award Nominee
  2012 NCTE/CLA Notable Children's Book in the English Language Arts
  2012 SCBWI Crystal Kite Members' Choice Award - California/Texas Region
  2012 San Francisco Book Festival - Best Children's Book
  2012 Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award
  2012 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
  2012 CCBC Best Children's Books of the Year
  2012 ALSC Notable Children's Books
  2012 Los Angeles Book Festival - Best Children's Book
  2012 Nominee: Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children
  2012 Nominee: Sakura Award (Japanese Children's Choice Award)
  2011-12 AISLE (Indiana) Read-Alouds Too Good to Miss List
  2011 SLJ Best Books of the Year
  2011 Washington Post Best Books of the Year
  2011 Cat Writers' Association Muse Medallion (Best Children's Book)
  2011 Fancy Feast Best Friends Award (Best Children's Book)
  2011 Forward National Literature Award (Best Picture Book)
  2011 NYPL Best Books of the Year - Poetry
  2011 NYPL 100 Books for Reading and Sharing
  2011 BSCE/CBC Monthly Pick (April)

  WON TON, A CAT TALE TOLD IN HAIKU was chosen to appear in the Society of Illustrators 2011 Original Art exhibit and catalog.

press & Reviews

STARRED REVIEW “Yelchin’s superb illustrations, graphite and gouache on watercolor paper, depict an angular blue-black-haired Siamese, capturing all facets of his singular, feisty, and playful personality. The book’s overall design, with text laid carefully between and around eye-catching, brilliantly composed illustrations, complements the engaging tale.”

– School Library Journal

STARRED REVIEW “Yelchin’s graphite and gouache illustrations telegraph cat-itude with every stretch and sinuous slink.”

– Kirkus Reviews

STARRED REVIEW “Yelchin’s expressive graphite and gouache artwork nods to the poetic form’s roots with echoes of Japanese woodblock prints and creates a lovable, believable character in this wry, heartwarming title that’s sure to find wide acceptance in the classroom and beyond.”

– Booklist

“Children old enough to read will get the full force of the harmonious combination of Lee Wardlaw's wry verse and Eugene Yelchin's witty illustration.”

– The Wall Street Journal

"Eugene Yelchin’s sinuous draftsmanship, playful perspectives and sunny palette provide just the right counterpoint to this tale of a cat with attitude to spare."

– Washington Post

"From the front cover on, this nameless shelter cat steals the show, with wide eyes, a sinewy body and a blue-gray coat."

– Chicago Tribune

"Accompanied by Yelchin’s winning drawings, the willowy Won Ton tells us his story – in perfectly formed haiku."

– The Christian Science Monitor

“The Japanese haiku theme is carried through with elements and backgrounds lifted from old woodblock prints. The final page, a delicate painting of the boy nuzzling the cat, is a fitting reward for the boy's patience and Won Ton's resilience.”

– Publishers Weekly

"This is a touching tale, made even more dramatic by Eugene Yelchin’s sublime illustrations, which vary on every page, adding drama, emotion, fun and beauty."

– Bookpage

“Yelchin’s graphite and gouache pictures match the poems’ sensitivity as well as their humor. The appealing cover will help sell this funny and touching celebration of the joys of adopting a shelter cat.”

– Horn Book

"Yelchin's graphite and gouache artwork brings vigorous line and movement, lots of humor and expertly composed spreads."

– Kirkus Reviews Blog

"Yelchin's artwork offers a nod to classic Japanese silkscreen… unusual framing or perspectives attract attention. Here too, the author and artist circle back to certain themes adding a rich, layered quality to this 'cat tale.'"

– School Library Journal Online

"Won Ton’s feisty, playful personality is revealed, creating a sweet story that will resonate with readers young and old."

– Cat Fancy

"The Committee's Monthly Pick: April 2011 – WON TON: A CAT TALE TOLD IN HAIKU, a sensitive tale of a stray cat in a shelter who finds a new home. Brilliant illustrations on watercolor paper in gouache and graphite."

– The Children's Book Committee

"Yelchin has illustrated the book with a playful flair. The graphite and gouache illustrations are bright and large, making them well suited to sharing with a group. Anyone with a cat in their lives will recognize the poses, the reactions and the attitude that Won Ton displays."

– Kids Lit

"The illustrations stretched over the gutters of the pages and arched around the text. …that’s what makes this book so successful -- it knows how to make some elements of the story disappear off the side of the page and leap into the imagination."

– Ink Spot Plot

"… Yelchin provides perfectly complimentary images... The cat is long and lean, even angular. His large blue eyes and whiskered mouth squint and twist expressively to show suspicion, longing, fear, self-satisfaction and utter contentment. The cat is the star here. Surely that is the way any cat would want it."

– Citizen-Times.com

"Yelchin appears familiar with feline antics... illustrations are comic but also convey the very essence of cat nature."

– Bookends

"Yelchin's beautiful, angular illustrations perfectly express the attitude of Won Ton, captured in all his modes of cat-ness: yawning, stretching, sleeping, hissing, cleaning and the inevitable 'dressed-in-doll-clothes' look that every cat in a home with children must one day endure."

– Outside of a Dog

"The book is full of pictures painted by Eugene Yelchin. They are reely grate pictures that capture Won Ton’s purrsonality. If I rote a book, I wood like to have Eugene Yelchin paint the pictures of me cuz he seems to understand cats frum the inside out."

– Mouse Breath, a lifestyle magazine by cats & cat lovers

“Brilliant illustrations engage the reader.”

–Mackin Educational Resources

“Eye-catching illustrations add magic to the prose.”

–Feral Cat Behavior

“The dual image cover is eye-catching. The illustrations have a Japanese-like tone that is emphasized by the title of the book and the use of senryu. A delightful book.”

–Peach’s Peak