I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: May 20, 2023] Katie and the Catsitter: Secrets and Sidekicks

I have enjoyed everything I’ve read by Colleen AF Venable.  I really enjoyed the first book in the series and was excited for the second.  But apparently I missed it completely, because when I was reading this, I didn’t really know who all the characters were-or what their past together was.

Despite that, I was still able to fully enjoy this story and am looking forward to reading Book 2 to fill in the gaps.

Once again the artwork is by Stephanie Yue who also drew her Guinea P.I. books and it is a perfect match.

In this story Katie has been fully deputized by The Mousestress although her mother (who works nights) had no idea what she gets up to.

(Beth was the girl that Katie was best friends with until camp tore them apart in Book 1.  It’s nice they’re back together) would love to train with Katie and Mousestress.  But Mousetress wants her to be older (or have her mother’s permission) before she does any training.  Even though she is the same age as Katie–but Katie’s mother says it’s okay (except she doesn’t actually know).  Ironically, Beth’s mother is super hero Stainless Steel (the revelation to Beth’s father is pretty darn funny).

They have a mutual friend Jess (who I didn’t recognize).  She is dating the son of the CEP of Buttersoft Bionics, a company whom the Mousestress believes is up to seriously no good.

Apparently The Eastern Screech (aka Owl Guy) has escaped from jail and that is taking up much TV news time.  A photo on the screen shows that Mr. B (their beloved bodega owner downstairs) has a brother Benito and he looks exactly like Owl Guy (at least according to Katie–no one else can see it).

As the story progresses, Buttersoft Bionics continues to send deadly robots into the city (they have the BB logo right on them). But when Mousetress goes to save the day, the press assumes she is controlling rather than stopping the robots.  The robots are really poorly created though, stopping because of a water splash or running out of wifi range.  But no matter what Moustress does, she is painted as the villain.  Indeed, when The Anivlator’s sidekick shows up, he (Cold Hands) is celebrated even though he doesn’t actually do anything, while Moustress takes out the robot.

Katie is also still friends with the Wheel-las, group of skateboarders.  She and Marie are best buds in the group.  And even better, Beth has joined them as well.  When a BB robot crashes at the skate park, the kids are excited to skate all over it.  Although Katie notices Benito spying on them.

Things go a little rough between Katie and Beth (again) though, because Beth starts taking over everything.  She starts hanging out with Marie when Katie is training.  She stats hanging out with Jess more too.  And, worse yet when Beth’s mother finally does let Beth train with Mousestress, Beth proves to be amazing at it (Beth is not very good, but she is getting better).

And just to make things more complicated, even though the news is good, Katie’s mom is no longer going to be working at night–she is going for a college degree.  But this means Katie’s nights are no longer free.  And it can’t be long before Katie’s mother catches on (and she already thinks that the Mousetress is bad).

The danger goes much further than anyone thinks though, and the revelations are surprising and come fast and crazy.

And of course, all of Moustresses’ cats are here, including a few new ones.  And, Sasspants from Guinea P.I.g makes a nice cameo.  It’s great.