Tabby's First Quest

February 1, 2019
Will Princess Tabby be brave enough to save Mewtopia?While out snitching candy as their nanny snoozes, Princess Tabby and her brothers, Felix and Leo, overhear their parents practicing for the Golden Scroll Ceremony, which will take place that evening. At the ceremony, the laws spoken by the holder of the scroll in the last rays of daylight become the laws of the country for real. (Since the first law is that the king, who reads the scroll, is the ruler, one wonders what authority the king has wielded prior to the ceremony.) Wishing to look at the real scroll, the trio heads down to the treasury and encounters a cloaked and hooded messenger who has come to get the scroll for polishing. There's something weird about the messenger, but they let him have it but then decide they should visit the goldsmith's shop to make sure they did the right thing. They didn't! The messenger may just be the legendarily awful rat King Gorgonzola of Rottingham. The three little kittens team up with the goldsmith's daughter, Clawdia, to pursue the thief and retrieve the scroll, but will Princess Tabby be brave enough on her first foray out into the world without an armed guard to complete the task and save the kingdom? Bell's first in a new series is a decent start. The puns run thick, but young readers new to chapters will enjoy them and even recognize themselves in Tabby's realistic self-doubt. The uncredited black-and-white cartoon illustrations add little. Sequel Tabby and the Pup Prince publishes simultaneously.An agreeable series starter for kitten fans. (Fantasy. 4-8)

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