Cat & Cat adventures: The quest for snacks by Susie Yi

One day when their human leaves for work, Squash and Ginny find themselves in the most unfortunate predicament: without snacks. With a little help from a magical portal, the two cats embark on a quest to find ingredients for a potion that will produce unlimited goodies.

At first, their mission doesn't seem so tough. It takes them on a boat race across Mewmaid Ocean and a hot air balloon ride over Mount Lava. But when the cats reach the Enchanted Rain Forest to gather enchanted rainwater, the last item on their list, their mission runs dry. . . It turns out it hasn't rained in the Enchanted Rain Forest in weeks!

Can Squash and Ginny get to the bottom of what's causing this dry spell and secure the final ingredient they need Or have Squash and Ginny taken their last bite . . . for good?

Ever since comics, and their more sophisticated cousins, graphic novels, have been readily available there has been debate about their validity as reading material, particularly in schools. Despite their popularity with students, there is controversy over whether they are 'real reading' and so to offer a story in graphic novel format that is clearly aimed at young readers may spark discussion, if not debate. While I, as teacher, reviewer, parent and grandparent, have no qualms about the format being one who believes that anything that includes text is available to read, the dichotomy is whether those who have the skills to bring all that is necessary to reading this story, will be engaged by a plot most suited for young readers. Obviously, there are those who are very young who will be able to manage it, but to me, there is a disconnect between the target audience of the narrative and those with the wherewithal to get the most out of it. So while there is clearly a demand for graphic novels, could the story have been presented in a different format and thus reach more readers?

For those faced with the dilemma of the inclusion of this format in general into their collections, the following articles were shared in a recent discussion on a forum for teacher librarians: Understanding Comics , Why Graphic Novels Are Storytelling Quicksand for Reluctant Readers (In a Good Way) , Graphic Novels for Kids: Classroom Ideas, Booklists, and More

Themes: Graphic novel.

Barbara Braxton