Harry and Chicken

Chicken finds her life turned upside down when she encounters Harry, a talking cat who is really an extraterrestrial stranded on Earth and looking for a place to stay.

Grade 2-4-- This tale of a cat from outer space introduces children to Harry, a saucer-eyed, lovable, scruffy, and humanlike cat from the planet of Arcana. This hungry, sleepy sort of extraterrestrial adopts a ten-year-old girl, Chicken, so named because of a stuffed toy she carried as a young child. One catastrophe follows another as Harry steals dessert, makes a trip to the mall, and gets into other mischief, some of it too predictable and pat. The story isn't particularly distinctive or unusual, but it will entertain students moving into chapter books. Sketchy black-and-white line drawings add to the humor and the appeal. --Joyce Richards, Prairie Grove Elementary School, AR
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Harry, an extraterrestrial disguised as a talking cat, invites himself home with Sara Jane (``Chicken''), who does her best to keep him hidden since her mother hates cats. But Harry's insatiable appetite makes it hard to keep him secret; once he's discovered, Chicken gets to keep him after all: Trying to explain that he's an alien, she inadvertently convinces her parents that she's desperately lonely and needs a pet. Heap's frequent illustrations, sketched with an agile and vigorous pen, enliven the format, but--given the subject matter- -this is remarkably pedestrian; one can't help wishing for a zany raconteur like Daniel Pinkwater. A sequel to follow. (Fiction. 8-10) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.