“A top-grade creepy/funny addition to the spooky-picture-book canon.”—Kirkus Reviews
A meowing, misunderstood monster stars in Powell-Tuck and Grey’s humorously melodramatic creature feature. Behold Frankenkitty, a fuzzy kitten sutured together in a calico-esque patchwork. Though the cat’s mad scientist creator insists his creation has “DOOMED” the castle denizens, portrayed with various skin tones, to myriad low-key curses (slimy socks, brown bananas), daughter Olive thinks the feline is “rather cute.” She even dares a rescue after a Frankenstein’s monster–eque butler shows Frankenkitty the door. Antic artwork fizzes with ghoulish glee across busy, castle-set scenes featuring splashes of electric green and orange. As skittering disembodied appendages and a cerebrum in a jar pull back a tasseled curtain on the story, the narrative voice howls with fun, skipping through horror movie tropes (“IT’S ALIVE!”) and addressing the reader (“You want to turn the page? Be warned!”). An ambiguous finale gets the last laugh in this entertaining readaloud. —Publishers Weekly
PreS-Gr 2–In a dark castle in a dark forest, an inventor creates his most terrifying creature: Frankenkitty! The stitched-together kitten is adorable yet strikes fear into everyone’s heart. Is the cursed feline responsible for the slimy things in the bath? The menacing moths and browning bananas? Only Olive, the inventor’s daughter, comes to Frankenkitty’s rescue, but the kitten may not be as innocent as Olive thinks. Readers will get a chuckle out of this silly tale and Powell-Tuck’s dramatic narration, skillfully offset by Grey’s playful illustration. Classic spooky images, like mad scientist’s labs and scary castles, get kid-friendly updates, and ominous descriptions are defanged with asides, as with the “dark, dark, dark castle with walls as gray as old underpants.” VERDICT A fun story for a not-so-spooky story time, this will bring the shrieks and giggles to libraries.–School Library Journal
A skull narrator teams up with a brain, hand, and foot to warn readers of the evil that resides in a castle in the dark forest: behold, Frankenkitty! While he looks a bit monstrous, with his patchwork fur sewn together from a few felines, Frankenkitty hardly appears to be as menacing as the storyteller claims. An inventor weeps for creating such a hideous creature, to which his daughter Olive replies, “I think it’s rather cute.” Blamed for all things horrific, from slimy socks to brown bananas, Frankenkitty is declared a monster and tossed outside into a snowbank. But, now, it is Frankenkitty that is doomed, not the dear reader. Olive brings the poor kitty in from the cold, overcoming such atrocities as wet socks and pesky squirrels and placing Frankenkitty on her lap to cozy up to the fireside. Grey predominantly uses glowing greens and warm reds in lush twopage spreads full of details; Powell-Tuck plays up the melodrama, letting kids in on the fun as they realize that Frankenkitty is far more sweet than scary.–Booklist
