The Blurb On The Back:

A magical adventure by the light of the moon.

Kitty is preparing for her school’s concern.  As a superhero-in-training with cat-like superpowers, Kitty can do all sorts of marvellous things.  But as a regular girl, Kitty is terrified to sing in front of everyone at school.  On top of that, Figaro hurts himself during a dangerous rooftop chase and his birthday plans are ruined.

Kitty will surely need the help of her fur-midable cat crew to rescue Figaro’s birthday and overcome her stage-fright.  

KITTY AND THE STARLIGHT SONG was released in the United Kingdom on 2nd September 2021.  Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

You can order KITTY AND THE STARLIGHT SONG by Paula Harrison and Jenny Løvlie from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

The Review (Cut For Spoilers):

Kitty’s class is performing the song Dance Under The Stars for the end of term concert and everyone has a solo line to sing.  But even though Kitty is a superhero-in-training who has already been on 7 amazing night-time adventures, she’s too scared to sing her line out loud during the practice sessions and can’t imagine doing it in front of a whole audience of strangers!

Fortunately, Kitty has something to take her mind off her problem when her cat friend Figaro reveals that it’s his birthday and he’s planning a wonderful party to celebrate.  But when the naughty cat Dodger steals a pearl necklace, Figaro gets injured during the chase, hurting both his eye and his tail and being left having to wear an ugly plastic cone.  Even worse – Dodger gets away!

Now Figaro doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday, Kitty has to track down Dodger to recover the stolen necklace and she still has to find a way to be able to sing in front of an audience of friends and family.  Kitty is going to need the help of all her cat friends help her resolve these problems …

The 8th in Paula Harrison and Jenny Løvlie’s delightful illustrated superhero series for readers aged 6+ is another charming affair that sees Kitty having to learn a whole new way of being brave while also convincing the vain Figaro that he should celebrate his birthday with his friends.  It’s full of kitties, friendship and some naughty behaviour that younger readers will thoroughly enjoy.    

Løvlie’s illustrations are still sweet without ever being sickly and continue to use the grey, white, black and orange palette of the previous books.  I especially like how she gets the characters of the different cats across, from the naughty Dodger who has a taste for other people’s jewellery to the wan Figaro who is feeling very down hearted after suffering his injury.

The story rattles along at a cracking pace with Harrison making the valuable point that there are different ways of being brave while also emphasising the support of Kitty’s cat friends who help her to overcome her nerves.  Dodger is a returnee from KITTY AND THE GREAT LANTERN RACE and so too are Duke and his gang from KITTY AND THE SKY GARDEN ADVENTURE (I haven’t read either book but Harrison gives you a strong idea of the shenanigans that went down in them).  I enjoyed how everyone comes together to help the somewhat vain Figaro enjoy his big day with the illustrations there working particularly well with the text to give layers and add even more enjoyment.

If I had a nitpick, it’s that I would have liked some conversation between Kitty and her human friend Emily about her nerves, just because while the cats are awesome, it would have been nice to show that human friends can support each other too.  But this is a small complaint in what’s an otherwise enjoyable read and which younger readers are bound to devour.