by Boomert - Scratch Kitten and the Terrible Beasties by Jessica Green 18 Jan 2010

This is the fourth title in this series of middle readers about the adventures of Scratch Kitten, intrepid ship’s cat. In his latest outing, Scratch’s job is to foil the terrible beasties, aka the Rat Pack, onboard the fishing boat the Jaunty Jess. Unfortunately, as Scratch finds out, three sneaky rats can run rings around one kitten and Scratch is repeatedly outwitted. Things go from bad to worse for Scratch until, when all seems lost, he saves the day and the Captain and returns to port, as sleek and sassy as ever. These are charming chapter books for middle readers. Scratch has all the standard characteristics of a hero--he is loyal, determined and courageous--plus a few that belong just to kittens. In fact, the most amusing element of the story is the way that Scratch is repeatedly undone by the impetuous and single-minded nature of all kittens. You know what I mean--they stalk that piece of string, utterly absorbed, oblivious to everything else, until they pounce and... fall off the side of the bed. Scratch has those moments, to his great chagrin, but always bounces back with good humour. This is lots of fun with terrific illustrations by Mitch Vane. For ages eight to 10.

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine (March 2009, Vol 88, No 6.) is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2009, Thorpe-Bowker.