Sunday, September 25, 2011

Magic Kitten readalikes

I recently talked with a group of first graders who all loved the Magic Kitten series. And I realized that there are a whole huge pile of books about magic kittens. And since I like creating booklists about esoteric topics here is my list of early chapter books about magic kitten (with a little bit of branching out at the end). (all summaries are from the publisher) (picture is of one of my adorable cats. His name is Furygosa and he's the sweetest little magic user in the world.)

Tiger Taming by Julie Sykes
When animal lover Max sets up a pet-sitting business, he finds himself looking after some very unusual pets. Max can't wait to take care of Miss Warble Itchy's black cat, Tiger. But a witch's cat can really be a handful-- talking back, drinking forbidden bat juice, and getting kidnapped by an angry wizard.

Paw Power by Kitty Wells
After Maddy buys a set of three ceramic cats at a mysterious flea market stall, one of the statues comes to life to help her stop a school bully.

Katie the Kitten Fairy by Daisy Meadows
When Katie's kitten is missing, her fairy friends help her find it.

Fashion Kitty by Charise Mericle Harper
After a stack of fashion magazines falls on Kiki Kitty's head while she is blowing out the candles on her birthday cake, Kiki turns into Fashion Kitty, a feline superhero who saves other kitties from fashion disaster.

Babymouse : Queen of the world! by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm
An imaginative mouse dreams of being queen of the world, but will settle for an invitation to the most popular girl's slumber party.
(not about a kitten but I always like adding things to book lists that are slightly out of the exact specifications that will lead off into other passions!)

If you want to branch out to more middle grade fiction you can add in some of my favorites!
No Flying in the House by Betty Brock and Wallace Trip
Annabel Tippens seems like an ordinary little girl, with short blond hair and very good manners. But Annabel is actually quite unusual. Instead of parents, she has Gloria, a tiny white dog who talks and wears a gold collar. Annabel never wonders why her life is different, until one day a cat named Belinda tells her the truth -- she′s not just a little girl, she′s half fairy! But now that she knows the truth, will her whole life have to change?

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander
Jason and his magic cat Gareth travel through time to visit countries all over the world during different periods of history.

And this list only has one familiar cat! If I opened the list up to all witch's cats it'd really explode.

What do y'all think? Do you have any favorite magical cat books? I'd be especially grateful for more very early chapter books because it seems that all the first graders are devouring everything I have!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's something about being a fantasy fan and also being Not a Cat Person, but it's always seemed like there's a complete OVERLOAD of magical cats in fiction! (And now I want to start singing stuff from Cats, sheez). I always rather like it when some OTHER animal shows up as magical for once! But that's just me being grouchy. I'll leave now.

librarian pirate said...

No, grouch away! I think it was more that while I know that cats are always around as magical helpers (because they're AWESOME), I was surprised at how many first chapter books had said magical cat as a main character and not as a loveable sidekick.