Marshmallow Pie The Cat Superstar On TV (Book 2)

By Author / Illustrator

Clara Vulliamy

Genre

Young fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN

9780008355890

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

06-08-2020

Synopsis

The second book in the Marshmallow Pie the Cat Superstar series by Clara Vulliamy, the author-illustrator of Dotty Detective. Perfect for fans of Toto the Ninja Cat or The Secret Life of Pets.

Marshmallow Marmaduke Vanilla-Bean Sugar-Pie Fluffington-Fitz-Noodle is a big, fluffy cat with an even BIGGER personality! With the help of his owner, Amelia, Pie is well on his way to stardom. He's got himself a role ON TV! But then he hears that he'll be joined in the spotlight - by Gingernut, the cheeky kitten... Can Pie learn how to share, or will his biggest opportunity yet come tumbling down? Told in the hilarious voice of Marshmallow Pie himself, his mischievous antics are illustrated throughout in black and white.

Reviews

This is a fun story with fantastic illustrations, set amid text which appears in various fonts and sizes for added appeal.

Marshmallow Pie is a cat with a BIG ego who is about to land his biggest job so far, in TV advertising. The only downside: having to work alongside an annoying kitten called Gingernut. Annoying or not, you have to stand up for your friends even to your own cost.

That's the lesson this cat learns and a message little humans will get too, even if they chose the book initially simply for its eye-catching cover. They will get the humour too and enjoy seeing Brad the Director being the butt of the joke. It seems pride comes before a fall, for humans and cats, but at least (we're told in a sneak preview of the next book) that Pie's fall from favour isn't the end of his career.

This is a book for cat lovers, but also one that any child with a sense of mischief will enjoy, especially Clare Vulliamy's many fans in Key Stage 1, newly discovering chapter books.

I particularly liked the description of Gingernut 'bouncing around the room like an orange baked bean' and how the author clearly knows how self-possessed cats can be.

128 pages / Ages 6+ / Reviewed by Jane Rew, school librarian