KITTYBUNKPORT

Best friends living in Kittybunkport, a village inhabited entirely by felines, must summon their courage.

Chowder and Crackles are lobster catchers who depend on the supposedly haunted nearby lighthouse to guide their boats safely home. When the lighthouse goes dark, the two are chosen from among all the other “scaredy-cats” to investigate. They reluctantly set out. The lighthouse appears just as frightening as they expect, and their worst fears come true when they spot a ghost—a lobster ghost! But wait, it’s just another lobster hunter, a dog from Bark Harbor who needs help installing a large light bulb. The tale is just dark enough to give young readers a delighted shiver, but they’ll quickly catch on to the humor of the quirky feline duo and their fantastical adventure. The two cats speak in an obviously well-practiced pattern—the clearly terrified Chowder won’t admit to being afraid (“I wouldn’t say I’m super-scared”), while Crackles is far more candid (“I would. That’s exactly what I would say”). Each strange event is immediately revealed to be benign, and the outcome is assuredly happy. OHora’s signature, highly stylized depictions of the cats with their large heads and huge glowing eyes, set against dark, often eerie backgrounds, work perfectly with this goofy tale. The town names are puns of real Maine towns, and OHora zeroes in on details sure to delight New Englanders, such as the thick sweaters the felines wear.

Highly imaginative, hilarious fun.