The Blurb On The Back:

Maya and Gran are off on an adventure to the big city … but what about their kitten Sammy?

When Maya finds Sammy stowed away in her bag, she must be brave and look after him.

A fast-paced search-and-find chase through the city, proving no one is too small for adventure!

LOST IN THE CITY was released in the United Kingdom on 4th August 2022. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

You can order LOST IN THE CITY by Alice Courtley from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

The Review (Cut For Spoilers):

Maya lives with her Gran and their kitten Sammy in a cosy house in a quiet street. Maya loves it there – she feels safe and knows where everything is. But Gran – who is very adventurous – decides that they should do a trip into the city, which sounds very different and very big and very loud and it makes Maya feel quite anxious. She wants to take Sammy with her so that she doesn’t feel overwhelmed but Gran says that the city is no place for a kitten. Sammy, however, does not accept that message and decides to stow away in Maya’s bag. Then, once in the city, Sammy decides to go exploring on his own!

Determined to find him, Maya must race through the city in search of him before Gran realises what’s happened and in doing so, sees everything that the city has to offer …

Alice Courtley’s self-illustrated picture book is a celebration of the life and diversity that can be found within cities while also acknowledging how overwhelming they can be. Maya’s relationship with her Gran is warmly depicted and I liked the little game you play where you have to spot where Sammy is. The illustrations are bold and have a lot of diversity and I enjoyed how Courtley highlights some of the different things to do.

I picked this up because I’ve always been a city-gal but understand that it can be a bit overwhelming – especially when you’re little. One of the great things about this book is that it acknowledges that it’s okay to feel small and overwhelmed when you’re faced with something that you’re not used to – something that’s reinforced by the illustrations where you see how small Maya is compared to the people around her. In fact, the illustrations here are really good – Courtley really gets across the diversity of people who are in the city as well as the different activities you can do and uses a great palette of colours while packing the illustrations with different things to see. All this and you can also play a little game of trying to spot little orange Sammy on the different pages as Maya chases after him.

I enjoyed the relationship between Maya and Gran with Gran’s enthusiasm for trying new things as she tries to convey that enthusiasm to her more shy granddaughter really shining through.

All in all, this is a fun book packed with pictures that will keep young readers engrossed and on that basis, it’s definitely worth a look.