Clara Humble and the Kitten Caboodle

I am not a great fan of books narrated in the ungrammatical slangy voice of the child protagonist, and so this one, which begins, "Me and Bradley: We'd always been best friends.", did not fill me with great initial enthusiasm. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself quickly caught up in the difficulties "me and Bradley", not to mention the initially despised next-door neighbour Shane, get into while trying to look after a stray cat and her new litter of kittens who have appeared in the churchyard of a derelict church. In the face of strong parental opposition to any new pet, the request/plea/demand for such only being made in the abstract, of course, Clara realizes that she has to find some way of turning "her" family of six newborn kittens and one mother cat into a money-making proposition. Perhaps she can use the skills learned at her Claymation summer camp where she produced a 23-second video starring @Cat, the wonder cat? Combined with the video expertise of Shane, the basic cuteness of the kittens, and @Cat's super powers as engineered by herself, it should go viral! Difficulties ensue of course. Comparing a tough job to that of herding cats is not just empty rhetoric, and the trait of non-cooperation seems to be one that is imbibed with mother's milk. The life of a video producer is not an easy one. Clara perseveres, however, and while she doesn't make an Oscar-winning movie, things do work out in the end with some help from her friends.

Clara Humble and the Kitten Caboodle is a fine growing-up story, encompassing the difficulties and disillusionment that go along with childhood best friends discovering that their maturing interests do not necessarily always coincide. However, in the end, real friends are friends, and they stick together and work things out. As Clara says, "Just because I didn't love treasure hunting didn't mean I couldn't love that Bradley loved it. Or that he couldn't love that I loved caring for animals and aspiring to cinematic excellence." Lessons are not all learned at school.

I should mention as well the cartoon-style illustrations by Lisa Cinar. These are not just pictures of the actions described in the text but real additions to the atmosphere of the story. For example, Dad's obsession with barbequing and Clara's disdain of it (in spite of hating vegetables, she loves animals enough that she is edging towards being a vegetarian) are neatly summed up in the picture of her dad lassoing his dream grill -- "100% macho or your money back" -- which comes equipped with feet wearing cowboy boots and spurs.

Clara Humble and the Kitten Caboodle should be a real winner with young readers looking for a "real" book rather than a picture book.