BANDIT’S SURPRISE

Rostoker-Gruber and Nguyen give Bandit a new sibling in this sequel to Bandit (2008), in which he got a new home. Bandit the tomcat is excited when his owner Michelle packs up his cat carrier and promises to be home soon with a surprise. But when Michelle returns, Bandit says, “Who in cat-nation is that?” as a gray kitten pops her head out of the carrier. Mitzy wants to play, but Bandit’s not interested. Things get worse when the kitten eats and drinks out of his dish and uses his cat box. Bandit can take no more when Mitzy plays with his furry mouse! He runs away after a scolding, but when rain begins to fall, he turns around—only to find the house shut up tight. Mitzy alerts Michelle to Bandit at the backdoor, and he begins to think that maybe Mitzy isn’t all that bad. An overabundance of cat-puns wears thin quickly (“mew-monia,” anyone?), as might the unnecessary layer of Photoshopped dots, perhaps added to mimic old-style newsprint on the distressingly static comics-style panels. There are plenty better new-kitty/new-sibling books out there. (Picture book. 4-8)