I’m looking a middle grade novel for my 9 year old daughter (3rd grade) who loves cats. She’s already read the Warriors series and loved it. ETA: Catwings is another one of her favorite series.
I’m trying to find a middle grade novel or series where cats are a big part of the books. It doesn’t have to be like the Warriors series where all the characters are cats or even that the main character is a cat though if anyone knows of other books like that I’d love to hear them.
I think she would also enjoy a book where the main character is a girl (she prefers female main characters if they’re human—the gender of the cat doesn’t matter) and there is a cat that is a significant part of the story. Like if the girl has a pet or a familiar or a friend that is a cat. The cat could either be a talking cat or not. But the cat has to be present for a large portion of the story, not just stuck at home when the main events are happening.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
by witchkitten
8 Comments
Andre Norton, Breed to Come or her star karate series, if you can find them
Catwings, Ursula LeGuin
Crenshaw
There’s a really cute graphic novel series about a cat called Detective Beans.
**Reserved For The Cat** by **Mercedes Lackey** has a young showgirl being aided by a magical cat with a secret he refuses to share.
The same Author has written the **Valdemar Series** which has magical telepathic horses aiding the titular country, but the highly-religious neighbour Karse has Suncats, magical teleporting pyrokinetic telepathic cats who, working in pairs, can create portals between them. One proves vital to resolving the crisis in the Mage Storm trilogy.
The Doona Trilogy (**Decision At Doona**, **Crisis On Doona**, **Treaty Planet**) by **Anne McCaffrey** has the Hrrubans, a race of catlike humanoid aliens who are more advanced than they seem.
The Star Kingdom series by **David Weber** and **Jane Lindskold** (Book 1 – **A Beautiful Friendship**) has Stephanie Harrington, an unwilling teenaged colonist forced to move to a new planet because her parents were recruited to set up a medical practice there. Some time after settling into her new home, she manages to discover and befriend the native sentients, the six-legged telepathic Treecats.
*Note – the Star Kingdom series is a prequel to the teen+ Honorverse Series which follow’s Stephanie’s descendant, Honor Harrington and her bonded Treecat Nimitz (aka Laughs Brightly and/or Stinker due to his sense of humour).*
“Carbonel the King of the Cats,” by Barbara Sleigh, and its two sequels. It’s about a girl and boy who meet a talking cat who’s actually the exiled heir to the King of the Cats, who has just died. The two kids have a series of magical adventures while trying to help Carbonel, the cat in question, undo the curse that’s been keeping him from his rightful position in the secret kingdom of magical cats.
Unfortunately, the first book in the series was published in England in 1955. So it may be difficult to find these books either in hardcopy or digitally at this point.
There’s also another British book about a kid who’s helped by a talking magical cat. This one is “Grimbold’s Other World,” by Nicholas Stuart Gray. It was originally published in 1963, so it may be difficult to get hold of that one, too.
There’s also a series of translated Japanese light novels called “Secrets of the Silent Witch,” in which the title character is a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old witch with a familiar who takes the form of a talking cat. The actual novels are written in a rather plodding style, but there’s a manga (graphic novel) adaptation of the first book in the series which is a lot livelier.
The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner is a middle-grade graphic novel where the main character has a delightful talking cat sidekick.
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest , by Charles deLint.
When I was a kid I loved a novel called The 89th Kitten, about a girl who helps a woman who adopts nearly 100 cats. It’s no longer in print, but you can get a reasonably priced used physical copy secondhand, and it’s also available on Kindle.
The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents. It’s one of the Discworld books, but can be read on its own.