The Unexpected Adventures of C.A.T

Gr 2-4–Did you ever wonder what cats do when you’re not watching? Chaya Ann Tober, or C.A.T. for short, gets a chance to find out in this book that features a “catalog” of cat words. When her cat, Ollie, won’t eat his new cat food, Cat taste tests it herself to show him how yummy it is. What she doesn’t know is that the food is magic and when the clock strikes midnight, she turns into a cat! She and Ollie have a fun time that night, out and about in the neighborhood. The next day she thinks that it must have been a dream, but she eats another spoonful of the cat food and again turns into a cat at midnight. When she and Ollie get locked out of the apartment and have to spend the night on the fire escape, it’s almost “catastrophic.” She decides to share her secret with her brother, Danny, who is skeptical at first, but when he tastes the food and later turns into a cat, he thinks this experience is amazing. When the food runs out, is their fun over? The magical premise of this book is sure to appeal to cat fans, and the illustrations are an asset to the story, but the dialogue and action are often overshadowed by long descriptive narrative passages.