Carlotta's Kittens: And the Club of Mysteries [Hardcover]

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Author), Alan Daniel (Illustrator)

Book Description

It is the coldest part of winter and all of the male cats in the Club of Mysteries -- which meets over Murphy's garage -- have one thing on their minds: Carlotta. Has anyone seen the she-cat that they all adore? Has she had her kittens yet? Because they all know that once Carlotta and her kittens appear, it will be their job not only to protect the young ones from the dangers of the world -- including being discovered and taken to the pound -- but also to teach them the skills they'll need to survive.

Elvis plans to teach them to sing. Polo will teach them to leap. Marco, of course, will teach them to read, and Texas Jake, the imposing leader of the Club, will teach them how to hunt. Underlying all of their efforts is each cat's secret hope that he will shine brightest in Carlotta's eyes.

But the male cats soon learn that Hamburger, Scamper, Mustard, Sugar, and Catnip (as the kittens are named) are more of a handful than they had expected.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this third installment in the Club of Mysteries series, a follow-up to The Grand Escape and The Healing of Texas Jake, the feline heroes must protect the titular litter and find them homes. Ages 7-10.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-Another installment about the members of the Club of Mysteries, a group of cats that occasionally leave their comfortable homes to meet in an old garage for companionship and adventure. This time, Carlotta brings her five kittens to the clubhouse and asks her friends to help her protect them and teach them useful skills before they set out on their own. With no prior parenting experience, the other felines are put to the test with the handful of squirmy, hungry, and astoundingly adorable kittens. This story is filled with love, danger, and humor, and has a satisfying ending. These characters may, in fact, be cats, but each one will have a voice and a face in readers' minds. Even though they can converse with one another, humans cannot understand them, giving the book a realistic flavor. A few black-and-white illustrations show the endearing characters interacting. Similar to Dick King-Smith's Martin's Mice (Crown, 1988) and Bill Wallace's Upchuck and the Rotten Willy (Minstrel, 1998), this story will appeal to fans of animal tales.-Sharon R. Pearce, Geronimo Public School, OK

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1st edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689832699
• ISBN-13: 978-0689832697
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,537,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I guess I've been writing for about as long as I can remember. Telling stories, anyway, if not writing them down. I had my first short story published when I was sixteen, and wrote stories to help put myself through college, planning to become a clinical psychologist. By the time I graduated with a BA degree, however, I decided that writing was really my first love, so I gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.

I'm not happy unless I spend some time writing every day. It's as though pressure builds up inside me, and writing even a little helps to release it. On a hard-writing day, I write about six hours. Tending to other writing business, answering mail, and just thinking about a book takes another four hours. I spend from three months to a year on a children's book, depending on how well I know the characters before I begin and how much research I need to do. A novel for adults, because it's longer, takes a year or more. When my work is going well, I wake early in the mornings, hoping it's time to get up. When the writing is hard and the words are flat, I'm not very pleasant to be around.

Getting an idea for a book is the easy part. Keeping other ideas away while I'm working on one story is what's difficult. My books are based on things that have happened to me, things I have heard or read about, all mixed up with imaginings. The best part about writing is the moment a character comes alive on paper, or when a place that existed only in my head becomes real. There are no bands playing at this moment, no audience applauding--a very solitary time, actually--but it's what I like most. I've now had more than 120 books published, and about 2000 short stories, articles and poems.

I live in Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, who's the first person to read my manuscripts when they're finished. Our sons, Jeff and Michael, are grown now, but along with their wives and children, we often enjoy vacations together in the mountains or at the ocean. When I'm not writing, I like to hike, swim, play the piano and attend the theater.

I'm lucky to have my family, because they have contributed a great deal to my books. But I'm also lucky to have the troop of noisy, chattering characters who travel with me inside my head. As long as they are poking, prodding, demanding a place in a book, I have things to do and stories to tell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Totally GREAT book!, February 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Carlotta's Kittens : And the Club of Mysteries (Paperback)

Carlotta's Kittens is an awesome book! It's exciting, adventurous, and hilarious! I rented it from the library and once I started reading the first and second chapters, I started loving it! I haven't read the first two books of the "Club Of Mysteries" series, but I still think it is one of the greatest books I've ever read! My favorite characters are Carlotta, Polo, Catnip, and Elvis. I loved all the characters, actually...but anyways, why don't YOU read it? I think you'll love it too!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carlotta's Kittens, January 29, 2002

By 

An 8-year old reader (Monhegan, Maine USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carlotta's Kittens: And the Club of Mysteries (Hardcover)

This, is one of my favorite books. One day in Westport, Connecticut, my aunt Sally offered to buy me and my sister a book. I was having trouble choseing and then, she showed up and gave me a book to look at. After I had read the flap, I knew this was the book for me. I like cats, and adventure. My favorite cat is Elvis because he's a good singer, like me. Also he is black and I'm going to get a male black cat too. I also liked Carlotta and Sugar. I also like Catnip. There was one thing, everyonce in awhile, Scamper was a girl, and then, all of a sudden, a boy. I always thought she made a good discription of Steak Knife. If you like adventure, cats and kittens, get this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Book Review of a Fun Book - Carlottas Kittens, May 8, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Carlotta's Kittens: And the Club of Mysteries (Hardcover)

Carlotta's Kittens by Phyllis Reynolds Nichols

Read this book. It's a mystery about cats and kittens and tails. This book is about a girl cat who has kittens and her friends from the alley. When she got back with her kittens her friends taught the kittens to do cat stuff, until one of the kittens got kidnapped by a one-eye cat. And some of Carlotta's friends go rescue the kitten by tricking the one eye cat.

I liked this book because it was funny. This book kept making me laugh. When I was reading this book it reminded me of a cat that fell off a tree and landed in my dad's arms.

I think the author wrote this book so that kids should find baby animals a home so they could know some animals are in danger.