Kitty and the Starlight Song

My daughter loved it

My niece and I enjoy reading Kitty and her adventures together.Seamless delivery

This story begins in the school hall, with Kitty and her class rehearsing for the school concert. In a scene which will be immediately relatable to young readers, Kitty is a bundle of nerves as her turn to sing a solo line of the song approaches. As the teacher plays her accompaniment, poor Kitty cannot find her voice and her cheeks grow hot as some of her classmates turn to stare at her silence. She returns home and shares her worries about her upcoming performance with her loyal cat Pumpkin, and resolves to practise hard over the next two days. However, her rehearsal plans are set aside when another of her feline friends Figaro is hurt as he tries to help Kitty apprehend a jewel thief. Kitty invests all of her energies in taking over the planning for Figaro’s birthday party to cheer him up and distract him from his mortification at having to wear a plastic collar! She rushes around the city gathering tasty treats, decorations and guests to create a perfect evening for her friend.She pictured Figaro lying in the dark and feeling sad about his birthday. ‘I bet he isn’t asleep yet. Let’s get everything ready and then we can knock on the window! He’ll be so excited when he sees the decorations’p83Paula Harrison’s gentle storytelling is perfectly pitched for a readership in the 5-8 age range, although I have seen older children enjoying these stories too. She builds suspense and excitement but there is not so much peril that sleepless nights will ensue, indeed I would suggest that Kitty and the Starlight Song would make a lovely shared story at bedtime. Kitty and the Starlight Song is fully illustrated on every page in distinctive black, white, grey and orange by artist Jenny Løvlie. The gorgeous images, filled with detail, movement and personality complement the text perfectly and give young readers time to pause and reflect during independent reading. At just over 100 pages, Kitty and the Starlight Song is the perfect length to give newly confident readers the warm glow of satisfaction at reading a whole book alone and the design and size of the book is ideal for small hands.

Paula Harrison’s gentle storytelling is perfectly pitched for a readership in the 5-8 age range, although I have seen older children enjoying these stories too. She builds suspense and excitement but there is not so much peril that sleepless nights will ensue, indeed I would suggest that Kitty and the Starlight Song would make a lovely shared story at bedtime. Kitty and the Starlight Song is fully illustrated on every page in distinctive black, white, grey and orange by artist Jenny Løvlie. The gorgeous images, filled with detail, movement and personality complement the text perfectly and give young readers time to pause and reflect during independent reading. At just over 100 pages, Kitty and the Starlight Song is the perfect length to give newly confident readers the warm glow of satisfaction at reading a whole book alone and the design and size of the book is ideal for small hands.If you know a Key Stage 1 or lower Key Stage 2 child who loves adventure, pets and problem solving, and you want to provide them with a story full of friendship, kindness, action and overcoming nervousness, look no further than Kitty and the Starlight Song. Great value for money and would make a lovely gift for Christmas or birthdays for any book loving child. Highly recommend

Kitty’s class is performing the song Dance Under The Stars for the end of term concert and everyone has a solo line to sing. But even though Kitty is a superhero-in-training who has already been on 7 amazing night-time adventures, she’s too scared to sing her line out loud during the practice sessions and can’t imagine doing it in front of a whole audience of strangers!Fortunately, Kitty has something to take her mind off her problem when her cat friend Figaro reveals that it’s his birthday and he’s planning a wonderful party to celebrate. But when the naughty cat Dodger steals a pearl necklace, Figaro gets injured during the chase, hurting both his eye and his tail and being left having to wear an ugly plastic cone. Even worse - Dodger gets away!Now Figaro doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday, Kitty has to track down Dodger to recover the stolen necklace and she still has to find a way to be able to sing in front of an audience of friends and family. Kitty is going to need the help of all her cat friends help her resolve these problems …The 8th in Paula Harrison and Jenny Løvlie’s delightful illustrated superhero series for readers aged 6+ is another charming affair that sees Kitty having to learn a whole new way of being brave while also convincing the vain Figaro that he should celebrate his birthday with his friends. It’s full of kitties, friendship and some naughty behaviour that younger readers will thoroughly enjoy.Løvlie’s illustrations are still sweet without ever being sickly and continue to use the grey, white, black and orange palette of the previous books. I especially like how she gets the characters of the different cats across, from the naughty Dodger who has a taste for other people’s jewellery to the wan Figaro who is feeling very down hearted after suffering his injury.The story rattles along at a cracking pace with Harrison making the valuable point that there are different ways of being brave while also emphasising the support of Kitty’s cat friends who help her to overcome her nerves. Dodger is a returnee from KITTY AND THE GREAT LANTERN RACE and so too are Duke and his gang from KITTY AND THE SKY GARDEN ADVENTURE (I haven’t read either book but Harrison gives you a strong idea of the shenanigans that went down in them). I enjoyed how everyone comes together to help the somewhat vain Figaro enjoy his big day with the illustrations there working particularly well with the text to give layers and add even more enjoyment.If I had a nitpick, it’s that I would have liked some conversation between Kitty and her human friend Emily about her nerves, just because while the cats are awesome, it would have been nice to show that human friends can support each other too. But this is a small complaint in what’s an otherwise enjoyable read and which younger readers are bound to devour.