The Amazing Crafty Cat (Crafty Cat, 1)

Okay, this book is pretty darn adorable! I was looking for a creative, crafty book for my very spunky 7 year old. She loves, loves this book!! We all enjoy reading it and making up funny voices and adding the personality that so easily goes with the writing and illustrations. It’s quite funny and I find myself wanting to read it without her. I feel like you don’t see many books like this one and it’s truly a gem! This book will keep her attention for months to come, and is her nightly reading choice for independent reading and together. Love! A must have!

My 7 year old daughter has read this countless times now. She carries it everywhere. It is loved so much by her classmates, her teacher has since ordered others in this series.

This was a really cute book. Perfect for those craft driven kids.

My 8 year old LOVES all of the crafty cat books! She reads then repeatedly, and loves to do the crafts from the story.

What drew me into this book was the adorable cover and the promise of crafts... and it delivered. Birdie is a little girl who has an secret, when she needs to she transforms into Crafty Cat! who can do all sorts of wonderful crafts.In this issue, it is Birdie's birthday and her cupcakes are ruined on the way to school so know she has to find a way to make her birthday extra special without them. And we all know... what is a classroom birthday without cupcakes?!After throwing an internal fit, and maybe even an external one, Birdie hunkers down as Craft Cat to find a solution to her problem.The end of the book also includes a list of the crafts that Birdie did and how to make them at home. I think parents and kids will have a lot of fun with this graphic novel series.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer ScottThe Amazingly Crafty Cat is first and foremost a young female reader’s graphic novel about solving problems by doing crafts. It even includes its own craft section at the end of the book (if you like pandas – Crafty Cat’s favorite). The story starts innocently enough, with Birdie, a young girl (a.k.a. The Amazing Crafty Cat) accidently dropping the panda cupcakes she made for her Birthday Break at school. Through trials and tribulations, things don’t go as planned, and The Amazing Crafty Cat has to come to the rescue. Luckily, with some simple tools The Crafty Cat seems to be akin to a deus ex machina getting Birdie out of tight spots at every turn of events. She is, however, extremely crafty in every sense of the word, and I see this young readers graphic novel as an interactive learning experience.The writing is glib, even when breaking the fourth wall – making the reader aware that they’re actively reading and judging The Amazing Crafty Cat as they move through the novel (albeit I have a reserved opinion that this was for adults in active participation with their kids). It dwells in expository, however, and most of it could have easily been replaced with dialogue. The dialogue that was present was handled using a fine line between expository dialogue (which I do realize is necessary when writing a craft book) and plot driven dialogue. The story itself went from one craft to the next but there were plenty more to participate in at the back of the book. The crafts propelled the story and resolved the ending. For this achievement alone Harper should be congratulated.The art was simplistic, and minimalist. There was just enough visual material to make the crafts learnable, in fact most of the detail came out in these sections. The rest of the story was illustrated in a quirky, childlike style – easy to emulate and incorporate into crafts. The crafts themselves are kind of fun: there are panda bracelets and panda necklaces all little treasures in a young girls eyes. In fact, the target demographic of this graphic novel seemed to be aimed at a young female audience. There are also hair ribbons and things most young boys wouldn’t be interested in. The art worked well toward its intended goals. The craft sections were easy to follow, and minimal equipment is needed (a pair of scissors, paper, glue, ribbon, sparkles, etc.) The instructions are clear and simple, and can even be done without adult supervision. Overall, the art carried through its envisioned purpose.All and all, if you have a young girl who are into crafts (I know my nieces are), The Amazingly Crafty Cat is definitely worth a look at; for male readers, look elsewhere. Be warned: most of the crafts are panda centered, except for origami bunnies. Given the nature of the subject material, children should have no problem working from craft to craft, and if the parents get involved, the pandas can easily be replaced by kittens or any other animal with a ‘box-like’ shape.

Super fun graphic novel. My first grader read it by herself. Cute story that involves imagination and crafting. My daughter absolutely loved that there were craft tutorials at the end. She asked if we could get the second one the minute we finished. I feel like this format would be encouraging for a reluctant reader who likes crafts and animals.

I pick 5 stars cuz he teach me how something bad can turn into something good:):) I like the book