Skip to main content

Katie the Catsitter

Image
By
By Colleen A.F. Venable
Illustrated by Stephanie Yue
New York: Random House Childrens Books, 2021. Graphic novel.

Katie is dreading her boring summer stuck in the city while her best friends are at sleepaway camp, something that her single mom can't afford. Though her friend's mom offers to pay for her, Katie decides she'd rather earn the money herself by picking up odd jobs around her apartment building. Though her attempts at watering plants and carrying groceries are catastrophic, she finally finds the perfect job cat-sitting for her eccentric neighbor's 217 cats. Cats with a range of talents like ordering pizza on the internet, rearranging furniture, and performing mixed martial arts. Katie is positive something is amiss, especially once she realizes that her mysterious neighbor Ms. Lang is always "working late" on nights when New York's most notorious supervillain, The Mousetress, strikes.

This graphic novel series opener is perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Victoria Jamieson. In a city filled with supervillains and superheroes (who have Yelp ratings), Katie's problems still come across as relatable tween-girl problems. In other words, this book has a perfect balance of drama and superhero action plus a ton of humor and lots and lots of cat antics. For graphic novel readers, this book is too fun to skip!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Fowl Play

By
  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: A Game of Noctis

By
A Game of Noctis By Deva Fagan New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. Fiction. 310 pages. On the island of Dantessa, social standings and wealth are determined by your place in the Great Game. If you keep on winning, you can reap treasures, power, and security for yourself and your family; but if you lose too many games, you'll be exiled to Pawn Island and a life of servitude. That's what happens to 12-year-old Pia's grandfather. Due to poor vision, he struggles to see the games, but also can't afford new eyeglasses without winning. When his score falls to zero, he is sent away. Desperate to bring him back, Pia joins a ragtag group of misfits to form a team for the annual game of Noctis. The game requires contestants to perform dangerous challenges in front of a live audience, and no one outside the wealthy Diamond District has ever won. Each member of Pia's team, the Seafoxes, has their own reason to compete, but if they're going to win they'll h...
Post a Comment
Read more