Katie the Catsitter by Colleen AF Venable, Illustrated byStephanie Yue, and Colors by Braden Lamb. Published by Random House Books for Young Readers, 2021.
Summary – Katie wishes that there was some way she could earn enough money to go along with her best friend, Bethany, to Camp Bear Lake, so when her neighbor, Ms. Lang invites her to catsit, Katie considers; well…how hard could it be? But Katie wasn’t expecting just how many feline friends she’d be taking care of – 217! …However, not everything is as it seems…and in a world where superheroes and villains abound, who’s to say what else Ms. Lang might be hiding?
Target Audience – The target audience range for this book is ages 8-12. I feel confident in saying the complexity of this title hits a sweet spot right between “too predictable” for an older reader and “too complicated” for a younger reader. The more simplistic “caring for lots of unbelievably smart and silly cats” plotline is well-balanced with the more nuanced “friends growing apart” subplot between Katie and Bethany as they exchange postcards and start experiencing boy trouble and friendship trouble alike. The protagonist falls right in the middle grade range too, at 12 years old, and the maturity level of the story reflects that; as Katie herself deals with becoming a more responsible person to live up to the life that she wants, she still acknowledges that she doesn’t yet have all the answers, seeking help from the grown-ups in her life to figure out how to solve her problems.
Strengths and Weaknesses– The main strength of this work is its humor. Venable and Yue work together seamlessly to coordinate both visual and situational humor, in addition to humor through dialogue. There’s lots of snark and sarcasm in the humor that would appeal to older children and tweens like the students’ rolling eyes, sighing, and slamming heads on to desks we see during Katie’s art teacher’s rambling lecture about “youth these days” (pg. 11-12), but also some sight gags that readers on the younger end of the spectrum are sure to enjoy, like the cats running wild through the apartment building and behaving in very human ways (ordering things online, playing loud music, etc.). The only weakness I would pick out was that perhaps the pacing was a bit slow. This being a first entry into a series though, I understand that there was a significant amount of initial exposition to get out of the way, so I won’t be too harsh on it. The story was much smoother after those few speed bumps at the beginning, anyway.
Creative Uses– This graphic novel would make an excellent book for an upper elementary school book club. Graphic literature is often “snubbed from the club” because of its format, so be extra sure not to overlook this one! Taking inspiration from the superheroes and villains in this story, several related activities might be to design your own superhero/villain, to decorate foam masks, or to talk about the real superpowers of animals, just like the 217 cats of Ms. Lang (an example for a cat might be their night vision, sense of smell, agility, etc.)
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