Cats at Sea (Anton and Cecil #1)

Gr 4-6--Two cat brothers who live on a busy dock couldn't be more different. Anton is thoughtful, cautious, and content with his life, particularly when he is able to listen to the music of sailors in the local taverns. Cecil is impulsive, curious, and keen to have an adventure aboard one of the many ships that sail in and out of the port every day. All the local cats live under the threat of being impressed to hunt rats and mice. Many who are seized are never seen again. So when Anton is snatched and taken aboard a huge ship, Cecil boards another vessel in order to find him and bring him home. Separated on a vast ocean, the brothers have adventures beyond their wildest dreams as they seek to be reunited with the help of a mysterious cat eye in the sky. The story is well paced with descriptive language that firmly places readers in the midst of dangerous storms, sea battles, and islands full of strange animals. The legend of the eye that watches over cats at sea adds an interesting supernatural element, though a scene in which all of the humans on one of the ships vanish will have readers scratching their heads in confusion. Nevertheless, children who like animal fantasies such as Avi's Poppy (Scholastic, 1995) will find much to enjoy here.--Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL

Feline brothers Anton and Cecil have different ideas about how life should be lived. "Don't be a chicken, be a cat. Be adventurous!" cries Cecil. "But every cat couldn't be like Cecil. And every cat didn't need to hear about it," thinks Anton. Cecil loves to befriend fishermen and steal rides on boats, while fastidious Anton prefers to listen to music at the local saloon and nap. As (bad) luck would have it, Anton is abducted and brought aboard a barque, the Mary Anne, as a ratter. Cecil is one step behind on the Leone, determined to save his brother, and they use their wits to survive while making unlikely animal allies. Adult author Valerie Martin (Property), writing with her niece Lisa, make their children's book debut with a quaint mix of adventure and legend. While some characters' appearances are fleeting and a mysterious event toward the end of the book goes unexplained, the story is rich with seafaring vocabulary and nautical adventure. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8-12. Author agent: Molly Friedrich, the Friedrich Agency. (Oct.)

Remarkable for its delicate use of language and for its watertight descriptions of seafaring . . . The story is engrossing and unpredictable with likeable heroes and charming accomplices . . . It's a measure of the Martins' success with this surprising debut that the cats' triumph feels so credible and, to the formerly sparring brothers, profound. —The New York Times Book Review