Book Review: Cat Girl’s Day Off — by Kimberley Pauley
This book was hilarious! I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. Set in a modern day Chicago where people have important Talents (superpowers), teen Natalie Ng (pronounced ‘Ing’) only has the embarrassing talent of being able to talk to cats, and she doesn’t want anyone to know about it. But when she sees a YouTube video of a popular celebrity blogger carrying a yowling cat, she is the only one who realizes that the cat is telling everyone that his person has been kidnapped, and that this woman holding him prisoner is an imposter. Natalie and her friends set out to rescue the real owner of the cat, and at once everything starts to go wrong. We begin with the familiar landscapes of a smart, funny, but shy teenage girl who has a crush on a certain guy at high school, and we head straight into filming a tribute to Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, where her star-struck best friends are less than helpful. It’s up to Natalie to be the brains behind the rescue, and we see her character grow as the fun continues. Rollicking adventure and desperate attempts to stop the villain follow, and of course the cats end up as the heroes. I enjoyed Natalie’s personality, but I enjoyed the antics and comments of the cats even more. If you’ve ever wished you knew what your cat was saying, think again. This lighthearted YA Urban Fantasy was definitely a good read!
Carol Nicolas 