Princess Super Kitty

This girl is bouncy, delightful and not to be easily typed or contained. Bold lines and solid colors--not overly dominated by pink--surrounded by plenty of empty space keep the focus firmly on the girl and her props. Readers and listeners both bold and retiring will find much to like in this charming depiction of a child with a strong sense of self and confidence in her imaginative makeovers. (Picture book. 2-5)

Copyright 2011 Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with permission.

Talk about a triple threat: with the help of a well-stocked dress-up trunk, Portis's (Kindergarten Diary) narrator, Maggie, cumulatively culls the best qualities from three classic pretend-play personas (cat, superhero, princess) to create one awesome icon. Donning ears and a tail empowers Maggie to communicate with "Meows" and drink from a bowl; by adding a cape and stripping down to her skivvies, she can sidestep any obligations to feline napping and "look for people to rescue." And with the addition of bling and a long dress, she can eschew the drudgeries of superherodom ("Super Kitties have to open jars for everybody in the whole world") and bask in the adoration of her subjects (aka, her two little brothers and the family cat). Portis's genial, direct prose and bold, playfully distilled drawings have always been a good match for stories of imagination; readers will admire not only Maggie's powers of fantasy, but also her aplomb at moving the pretend-play goalposts to suit her fancies. This is one girl who really knows how to have it all. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

PreS-K--Princess Super Kitty, who imagines herself as a cat, wears ears and a tail to enhance her look. Her mother indulges her by letting her speak in "meows," lap milk from a bowl, and eat her peanut butter and banana sandwich under the table. At nap time, she becomes Super Kitty, rescuing her baby brother from a tumble down the stairs and using her X-ray vision to view her older brother's underwear. Next she adds princess gear and becomes Princess Super Kitty. Again, both of her brothers and her mother play along with the moment. When bath time is announced, she becomes Water Lily Hula Porpoise Princess Super Kitty of the Sea, complete with a grass skirt, a seashell bikini top, and a big crown. The last scene shows a bathtub with the top part of the crown and flippers visible and the text says, "Meow." The colors in the illustrations are flat and contained within thick black lines. There is minimal background, but certainly enough to tell the story. This book is a gem. All small children would love to use their imaginations in such a fun way.--Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI