Ottoline and the Yellow Cat

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat (Ottoline #1)

Chris Riddell

HarperCollins, 2007

$10.99, Hardcover

978-0061448799

March 30^th, 2012

Genre: Mystery

Age: 8+

Description: Ottoline Brown’s parents are always on the go traveling to exotic places around the world, so she’s often left alone in her apartment on the 24^th floor of the Pepperpot Building with her best friend, Mr. Munroe, a “creature” who is short, hairy, and from a bog in Norway (picture Cousin It). They tend to have many adventures together. When they discover a potential ring of thieves hitting up a lot of old, single, rich ladies in buildings on their street they see a mystery to solve. Discovering that all the women had recently purchased a lap dog from a certain business, lost the dog, and then got robbed Ottoline and Mr. Munroe see a connection the inept police keep missing. Mr. Munroe infiltrates the organization posing as a new kind of dog that is perfect for the role of a lap dog he learns the true nature of the business and the objective of the deadly feline—the Yellow Cat—she has been using the “lap dogs” to stake out the houses of rich women. So Ottoline and Mr. Monroe, with the help of their other friends (people that her parents hire to clean and cook for Ottoline every day), set up a diabolical plot to ensnare the evil cat burglar.

Opinion: Ottoline is a cross between a Series of Unfortunate Events book and the kookiness of the Addams Family. The books move quickly and are jam packed with a lot of interesting pictures and laugh out loud humor. There are also many hilarious side bars throughout the story. The illustrations are mainly black and white with some splashes of red here and there. This is a delightfully unique story. Give to fans of Coraline and the like and readers looking for a quirky adventurer.