When Mr. and Mrs. Krall discover that they are going to have a baby, the feline couple is overjoyed. Then delivery day arrives, and Mrs. Krall has a puppy! Naming this unusual offspring Flix, the Kralls bring their son home to Cattown and raise him with love. Aware from the first of Flix's special needs, they arrange for him to spend lots of time with his canine godfather, Dr. Medor Klops, a basset hound from nearby Dog City. When it is time for Flix to attend high school, and then college, he does so in Dog City, while living with Uncle Medor. Whilst at university, Flix meets, saves, and falls in love with a poodle named Mirzah de la Forrière. After their marriage, Flix founds the CDU - "Cats and Dogs United" - an organization dedicated to fostering mutual respect and tolerance between canines and felines, and eventually goes on to become the first mayor of the now joined Cattown and Dog City. When he and Mirzah have a baby, it turns out to be a kitten - the ultimate affirmation of Flix's life spent between the dog and cat world.

Leaving aside issues of biological confusion - Flix is not technically a bi-racial child, as he is not the offspring of a union between a cat and a dog, just as his own child is not the product of a biracial (or cross-species) union - Flix is an engaging and humorous look at the experiences any child who feels caught between two worlds might have. I appreciated the fact that Flix's parents are so loving, and accept him for who he is. They don't simply include him in the feline world, they ensure that the canine part of him is acknowledged and nurtured, even when that takes him away from them, and from Cattown. The illustrations here, as is always the case with Tomi Ungerer, are humorous and engaging, with plenty of amusing visual details, from the canine-feline fight being shown on television in the very first scene, to the fact that the hospital where Flix and Mirzah have their child is staffed by an integrated dog/cat staff, unlike the solely feline staff of the hospital in which Flix himself was born. Subtle details like this reinforce the larger message of the story, about different communities coming together and not just learning to tolerate one another, but growing to consider one another friends and comrades. Recommended to Tomi Ungerer fans, and to anyone looking for children's stories addressing themes of difference, tolerance, acceptance, and cross-community friendship. ( )