Sophie Masson (text) and Laura Wood (illustrator), Sabina and the Cats of Rome, Christmas Press, October 2024, 84 pp., RRP $15.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780645378894
There is more need for junior fiction to transition readers to middle grade books. Sabina and the cats of Rome is a great example of a transitional book. It is a light fantasy set in Ancient Rome. Everyone is asleep when eight-year-old Sabina goes out into her favourite part of the garden. There is a cat in a tree. A very unusual cat who is the only daughter of the King of the Cats of Rome. The cat can talk human and cat. The cat named Cleo after Cleopatra needs Sabina’s help to save her father. Cleo’s father has been put under a wicked spell by the King of the Rats.
Sabina and Cleo the cat, and Sabina’s dogs Major and Minor, race against time to save Cleo’s father. Of course, Sabina is the hero.
Illustrated by Laura Wood, it is a romp and provides an accessible book for young readers.
Suits ages 6-8
Reviewed by Susanne Gervay
