Miss Cat (Graphic Novel)
By Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet
Graphic Novels have been on a rise and rise for years, with certain series now being firm favourites of children and teens alike. They, especially encourage reading for those who don’t think that’s for them and are termed “reluctant readers” and show a different type of book to add to the pile of the more exuberant, proficient readers.
Miss Cat is a great mystery for the young middle-grade readers.
Discover the blurb and my review of the first in a brand new series in this genre below.
Thanks to the publisher and authors, I also have a couple of pages and the cover to show you. You’ll see them as you go down this blog post.
Synopsis
The first book in an irresistible new graphic novel series for young readers, featuring a cool detective dressed in her cat-ear hoodie.
Meet Miss Cat, a private eye with ears on her hat and a nose for mystery!
Mr Titula, a sad old man, comes to see Miss Cat at the old dairy shop she uses as an
office. Someone has kidnapped his canary, Harry, his pride and joy! He begs the young detective to find him.
So, Miss Cat sets on the trail of Harry and a strange couple, the sultry Doris and the aggressive Jean-Pøl, a talking dog.
What could they be trying to hide? And could the senile Titula and the dashing Titus the Magnificent, a magician with extraordinary powers, be the same person?
Miss Cat, who thinks she’s a cat and hides underneath a large hoodie with cat ears, is a perfect new heroine to encourage children to read. With a Scandi-noir mood, Joëlle Jolivet’s dynamic illustrations and Jean-Luc Fromental’s thrilling plot and irresistible dialogues whisk young readers through Miss Cat’s crime-solving adventures!
Review
Miss Cat is quite the private eye, all clad in her cat-like hoodie. It’s a story that entertains and is quite the magical page-turner, with short chapters for 7-10 year olds, with its intriguing characters. There’s Miss Cat, a human who has set-up a detective agency and wears a cat-like outfit. She has dealings with Olaf the talking octopus, a member of the Octopus 6, Wolfgang who’s a talking dog and Maximus and Doris who are humans.
The book is entertaining with its mystery of a talking canary being bird-napped, magic and humour. You get a really good feel for the captivating characters in what’s great story-telling. What do the digits mean? Why are they so important to some of the characters? There’s goodies and baddies and a whole lot of fun for readers.
All is well-illustrated in a fun way, original way, that builds a good amount of atmosphere in what becomes a good page-turner.
It will leave children wanting more…
It would sit well with anyone’s collection of graphic novels, from schools to libraries to personal collections.
This is certainly one for children to look out for.
I’d certainly review more, given the opportunity.
The second will be ‘The Gnome’s Nightmare’.
Maggie Bird is a lot of things. A chicken farmer. A courteous neighbor. And a seemingly average 60-year-old woman living a quiet life in bucolic Purity, Maine. She attends a weekly book club where she drinks martinis (stirred, not shaken) with her other retired friends. She’s a darned good rifle shot. And she never talks about her past.
International bestselling author TESS GERRITSEN began to write fiction whilst on maternity leave as a physician. She published her first novel in 1987 and has since sold over forty million copies of her books in forty countries.
I am delighted to be closing the Random T. Tours blog tour with a review of chef Sat Bain’s new cookbook – Eat To Your Heart’s Content.
Sat Bains worked out, always maintained a reasonable weight and considered himself fit and healthy, so it was a shock when, in March 2021, he had a massive heart attack and underwent an emergency triple heart bypass operation.
It was a resounding success in my family. It uses various seeds, nuts and panko crumbs all mixed together with harissa and cooked in the air fryer. The crunch was amazing and it felt and tasted healthy. The nutritional notes were interesting. The time was in the preparation, perhaps because I couldn’t buy everything pre-crushed, but but so easy to do myself.
It was so lovely to find a tasty alternative to just the plain broccoli I would normally have. I couldn’t get tenderstem broccoli, but the purple sprouting variety proved a good alternative. I was amazed at what just a small bit of the mixed seasoning, that takes seconds to make, did when broccoli was tossed in the mix. A little bit truly went a long way.
It had a lovely lemony spiciness to it, but not too overpowering. It says about alternative fish options. I definitely plan to try it out with salmon some time. I served it with the broccoli side dish again as this is the dish it suggests to serve it with, and I added carrots as I had to use them up. Still works beautifully well.
This makes handling butternut squash easy as it suggests keeping the skin on. It cooked well and there’s a pork dish it suggests to serve with, that I didn’t try on this occasion. I added a bit less parmesan cheese, just for my tastes though.
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 