The Cat Who Got Carried Away
Grade 2-3-The nutty but charming Gaskitt family is back, and this third installment is the best yet. The humorous incidents revolve around pet thefts, a mom who spends much of her time in bed, a teacher who falls out of the window trying to find the missing class rat, and a ridiculous substitute teacher. McEwen stays in step with the author with her dynamic watercolor-and-crayon illustrations on white backgrounds. Text and art flirt playfully with one another, often trading jobs. The book is loaded with fun elements such as timetables and aerial-view maps. There's more than a bit of slapstick, understated humor, third-grade-style sarcasm, and characters contradicting the author in thought bubbles. Specific references to popular culture are tossed off, as when the family cat, riding the city bus home after being abducted, daydreams that he's the lead in the movie The Incredible Journey. These elements put The Cat at the sophisticated end of its genre and the rich end of the literary-experience spectrum. It's a romp on a par with Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" books (Scholastic), but without the irreverence. It's also a school story featuring a substitute teacher to top Viola Swamp from Harry Allard's "Miss Nelson" books (Houghton). Children will love it.Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MACopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.