MEET THE HOUSE KITTENS

Too adorable to be taken seriously, a team of talented kittens struggles to prove itself.

Kitten Marmalade is a trained architect, and she has perfect plans for the human mayor’s new mansion, but the city planner can’t see past the orange feline’s cuteness. She tries to drown her sorrows in a bowl of milk at the local diner, but the human server and customers fawn over her. She does meet Sampson, the kitty dishwasher, who’s a trained electrical engineer: “No one takes me seriously, either,” he says. The two decide to form an all-kitten construction firm and join forces with fluffy white cat Bubbles, who wants to be a plumber. Humans still think they are just endearing internet video fodder, so the trio, together with Siamese carpenter Professor von Wigglebottom and a pack of strays, take over an abandoned construction site to build Marmalade’s plans. The humans working with the city planner make a mess of their building; good thing Marmalade and her crew are there to save the day! Green’s graphic novel is…adorable. Big colorful panels, some filling the page, tell Marmalade’s tale as she proves she is more than just a pretty kitty. Plenty of cat humor in dialogue and illustrations will keep young readers giggling, and many will identify with Marmalade’s plight. Humans depicted are diverse.

A winner of a tale, well-constructed and, dare we say, cute.