Yesterday, I was thinking about another cat book I read to Miss Kitty, my resident instigator. Don't get me wrong, I love Miss Kitty, but she is not the sweetest pet I have or the sweetest cat. Miss Kitty is the first cat I ever had and she will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason. Since day one, Miss Kitty has complex but loving relationship with her favorite dog of all time, Lenny. He is the only dog she really likes because he cares about her, even though she gets right in his face and complains about not being allowed to go outside when she wants to. Miss Kitty does like to hang out with Lenny, but she has never been a fan of Flowers or Buddy and she does not like my cockatiel, Rocky, who is fan of all of the furry family members. Miss Kitty would rather Rocky, Buddy, and Flowers just did not talk to her or bother her. Miss Kitty is a high maintenance girl who also loves her independence.
Because of Miss Kitty's personality the title character in the book Chester by Melanie Watt is a story that I can relate to. Kids or adults who ever felt the desire to pretend like another person was not around and wanted the world to pay more attention to them will relate well to Chester and his story. The story starts out with the author Melanie Watt telling a story about a mouse, but every time she tries to get past the introduction Chester interrupts her and changes the story by using his red marker and then he makes himself the main character. There are three parts in the book that are my favorite. One of them is when Chester writes an acrostic poem in a story all about himself and in the poem he makes himself out to be the most important one and the envy of the author and the mouse. The other two parts are when mouse comes backs home with a souvenir....a bulldog! and the other is when the author finally puts Chester is his place by dressing him up in a silly outfit. If you want to know what Chester is dressed in, you will have to read the book. I promise it will make you laugh. I think Chester will appeal to any kid who has a sense of humor, any kid who likes to be a prankster, or any cat lover who loves silly characters who also happened to be cats. I think the book would be really cute to have two people, maybe a parent read the author, Melanie's part and then have a child read the red ink text written by Chester. I am sure a lot of giggling would be had by all readers. If you are reading this with a listener, then you could read the story through and then have the child listener give his or her own idea of what it is that Chester wants to say. Sometimes young non-readers love to tell stories based on pictures and Chester has a lot of pictures that are easy for non-readers to understand without text. So, whether you love a picture book for the illustrations or for the overall package of pictures and text, you would enjoy this book.
Here is a link to the publisher of Chester where you can find more info about this book and its Author/ Illustrator: Kids Can Press. I have not read them yet, but I recently found out that Chester is the first in a series of books about Chester. They are Chester's Back and Chester's Masterpieces which I am sure will be just as enjoyable as the first book. If I get a chance to read them, I will write a review on each of them.
Miss Kitty Fan Forever,
Alesia
P.S. Above is a photo of Miss Kitty and Lenny in front of the window that Lenny eventually concedes to Miss Kitty.
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