Raiders’ Ransom

In 22nd-century Great Britain, where climate change has caused vast flooding, the piratical Reavers kidnap the Prime Minister’s daughter and thirteen-year-old Lilly Melkun, an English fisher-girl, takes her seacat on a daring rescue attempt, with a mysterious talking jewel from a past computer age tucked in her belt as ransom.

 

Mr. Frog Went A-Courting

Readers find out why a frog wants to marry a mouse, how the cat is involved, and where they all end up in a charming adaptation of the popular old ballad featuring seventeenth-century settings and costumes.

Dick Whittington And His Cat

When Dick Whittington finally gets a ride from the countryside to London, he anticipates a wealthy paradise where the streets are paved with gold. He is shocked, though, to find that the city is in an even worse state than the country! Dick struggles to survive, barely living off scraps of food, until the wealthy merchant Mr. Fitzwarren offers him a job. Still lonely, Dick purchases a cat to comfort him and to kill the rodents in his bedroom. Little does anyone, particularly Dick Whittington, know that this cat will bring many more fortunes than anticipated! Margaret Hodges retells the optimistic story of Dick Whittington’s luck with beautiful acrylic paintings by Melisande Potter.

Chester

Chester is more than a picture book. It is a story told, and retold, by dueling author-illustrators. Melanie Watt starts out with the story of a mouse in a house. Then Melanie’s cat, Chester, sends the mouse packing and proceeds to cover the pages with rewrites from his red marker, and the gloves are off. Melanie and her mouse won’t take Chester’s antics lying down. And Chester is obviously a creative powerhouse with confidence to spare. Where will this war of the picture-book makers lead?

Take a closer look at Chester as examined in WOW Review.

Chester’s Back!

In this uproarious sequel to Chester, the battle of the picture-book makers continues. Which author-illustrator will come out on top – Chester or Melanie Watt – is anybody’s guess!This time, there’s no denying (in Chester’s mind) that he’s the star of the show. His already outsize ego has ballooned even more due to a spate of fan mail on the heels of his self-titled debut. As Chester sees it, who needs Melanie Watt when they have Chester? He’s got no shortage of his own storytelling ideas. With heavy paw and red marker, this control-freak cat does not hesitate to commit them to paper. When Chester starts acting far too Hollywood, Melanie calls an open audition to replace the high-maintenance feline. This isn’t a move that Chester will take lying down. Get ready for a seesaw comedy of dueling author-illustrators. Who will come out on top is anybody’s guess!

The Sleeping Porch

When the intense heat drives young Brando to sleep on the porch, he is awoken around midnight by a cat from a nearby graveyard. Together, Brando and Graveyard Cat embark upon a rollicking adventure: leaping up to the rings of Saturn, visiting the Arctic seas, scaling cliffs and sliding down slopes. Brando is certain his journey with Graveyard Cat was just a dream, but finds that he can’t be entirely sure . . . This imaginative tale is perfectly complemented by Ian Wallace’s charming illustrations.

It’s A Secret

What if you were as small as your cat — and took off with him on a nighttime adventure? A gorgeously illustrated tale from the award-winning John Burningham.Every night Marie-Elaine’s cat, Malcolm, goes out, and every morning he comes back in and sleeps. “Where do cats go at night?” the girl wonders. So when she sees him at his cat door dressed to the nines, she begs to come along. And amazingly, Malcolm agrees — as long as she puts on her fancy clothes, gets small, and keeps it all a secret. With a whimsical story and breathtaking artwork, the acclaimed John Burningham takes us on an exciting night’s journey, braving hoodlum dogs and precarious climbs for a rooftop party that is cause for celebration indeed.

There Are Cats In This Book

Open the covers of this extraordinarily inventive, interactive book to find that the cats inside are ready to play — in very surprising ways.There they are, purring under a blanket. But not for long! Three sprightly cats named Tiny, Moonpie, and Andre are eager to involve you in their games, whether it’s tossing a ball of yarn (oof!), lifting flaps to find them in boxes (comfy), or getting caught in a pillow fight (biff!). As their antics get wilder still, they’ll need a kind soul to blow on the page to dry them off! With an irresistible story that directly engages the reader, this book’s clever design and bright, gestural illustrations make for cat-tastic lift-the-flap fun.