Catty Corner Lands on Her Feet

November 1, 2024
Grades 1-3 Meet Catty, an excitable second-grader who also happens to be half cat. When her mom gets a new job, Catty attends school for the first time. Despite her best efforts, Catty's feline instincts come out and cause some havoc. Catty's mom encourages her to write her feelings on her scratch pad, aka diary, and as Catty becomes more confident in herself, she embraces the world around her, makes new friends, and shows how being half human, half cat can have its advantages. Murphy's adorable new series is perfect for emerging chapter-book readers who love slice-of-life stories. Catty is sweet and a bit shy, and her journey navigating school and making friends will appeal to kids who aren't quite sure where they fit. Catty's family is supportive; her new friends represent a diverse range of kids and interests. A full-color illustration accompanies each chapter, adding a sprinkle of magic to the story. Catty is ready to leap into the hearts of young readers and take her place among chapter-book staples like Junie B. Jones and Judy Moody.

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November 25, 2024
Flights of feline fancy spark this warm chapter book series debut by Murphy (Chubby Bunny) that follows half-girl, half-cat Catty as she balances family, friends, feelings—and a fuzzy orange tail. When Catty learns that she’ll be attending school with human kids for the first time, she worries about fitting in. Despite putting her best paw forward, day one at Friends Hollow Elementary soon goes “cattywampus”: the teacher uses a laser pointer for a map lesson, someone steps on Catty’s tail, and she lands in the principal’s office. Luckily, Catty’s similarly half-cat mother offers help in the form of her own school-days diary—a fuzzy lavender journal labeled “scratch pad”—in which Catty can read about Mom’s experiences, express her own emotions, and even give her nails a calming scrape. Armed with a whole new cattitude, Catty endeavors to set things right. Murphy blends relatable first-day jitters and missteps with heartwarming moments as Catty finds kindness and support in plentiful supply. Feline-
forward details and vernacular should prove catnip for young cat
fanciers. Final art not seen by PW. Publishing simultaneously: Catty Corner Pounces into Action. Ages 6–8.

March 1, 2025
Catty Corner, who's half cat, half girl, struggles when she attends school for the first time. Until recently, Catty's been homeschooled by her half-cat mom (her father is fully human), who teaches her subjects such as reading and string chasing, as well as the importance of following rules like "no midnight zoomies" and "no knocking over shiny things." But when her mom gets an amazing job at the fish cannery, Catty contends with a whole new challenge: third grade at a real school. On her first day, Catty manages to break every single one of her parents' big rules for outside the house: no hissing, scratching, or biting. She goes home crestfallen: "Today will go down in hissssstory as the worst first day of school ever." But when her mom gives her a diary in which both Granny Tabby and Mom detailed their own difficult days as the only half cats, half girls at school, Catty slowly changes her attitude. Careful readers may wonder why Catty's parents never socialized her with other children and why Granny Tabby's diary wasn't shared with her in advance of her first day of school. That said, with its pawsitively adorable puns and sweetly spunky protagonist, this quickly paced tale will please cat lovers; young readers looking for relatably awkward school stories will find it charming, too. The text is broken up by occasional watercolorlike illustrations depicting Catty as light-skinned with ginger hair and tail; her schoolmates are diverse. Feline fanciers will snap this up like catnip.(Chapter book. 6-9)

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