An adventure full of puns—a little mind-bending and a lot of fun.
In Klama’s chapter book, a cool cat goes undercover.
Kid has just arrived at summer camp when he spots something strange fall from the sky with a parachute. As he’s about to go looking in the woods for it, he bumps into his old camp counselor, Kelli. The two of them discover that the Unidentified Falling Object is, in fact, a cat—and not just any cat, but a cat who can type. Kid and Kelli, along with the rescued feline, are whisked away to the White House: It transpires that this cat is named Clawed and is a special agent who looks after the president’s grandchildren, including Lucy, who has come to take the trio to Washington, D.C. The president thanks Kid and Kelli for returning Clawed and gives them a special assignment: to infiltrate the cat-stealing ring that have taken cabinet members’ cats and find out if there’s a mole inside the Cat Intelligence Agency. This short chapter book includes a few full-color comic-like illustrations by Levine of the animal characters and the humans, including Kid (who has auburn hair and blue eyes), and Kelli (who has electric blue hair and green eyes). Kid can’t pass up a good pun and makes time for kidding around, even in the face of danger: “We were headed to Washington DC for a debriefing. I never had one of those before, so I packed extra underwear (‘de’ briefs, get it?).” In the course of his cool and fun narration, there are tender moments when Kid’s soft side emerges, displaying his growing affection for “cute” Clawed and his respect and admiration for Kelli. There is an easy balance between dialogue between the characters and Kid’s descriptions of events and observations. As the adventure amps up, so does the pace of the prose, with chapters ending on cliffhangers that make the book hard to put down.
An adventure full of puns—a little mind-bending and a lot of fun. (Ages: 7-9, fiction, chapter book, illustrated)Pub Date: March 29, 2023
ISBN: 9798223190301
Page Count: 66
Publisher: Use Your Words
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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