CLAWED

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.