Caramba

October 10, 2005
What if it were perfectly normal for cats to fly—what if they could actually "leap off the cliffs and soar over the ocean... swoop and glide and skim the waves"? Then how would it feel to be the only cat who couldn't fly? That's the leap of faith Gay (the Stella series) asks readers to make, as she delivers her time-proven message: it's okay to be different. The eponymous, non-flying hero is a charmingly self-deprecating cutie. Poor Caramba tries to fly like other cats, and just as vainly tries to cover up his failures ("I'm looking for caterpillars," he tells his best friend, a pig named Portia, when she finds him lying face down on the ground). Then one day Caramba's cousins grab Caramba by the paws and bear him aloft, enabling him to "see forever." But it takes an accidental dunking for Caramba to discover his uniqueness (he can swim). The tale may seem overlong to make its point, but youngsters will likely be willing to go along for the ride because of Gay's dreamy, gossamer watercolors, which are beguiling from beginning to end. Her flying cats are not endowed with wings; rather, they fly simply by virtue of stretching out their arms in a kind of airborne ecstasy, their sinuous tails trailing behind them as they float above the white-capped, bottle-green sea. Ages 2-5.

November 1, 2005
PreS-Gr 2 -Caramba is ashamed that he cannot fly like the other cats. Confiding in his flightless friend Portia the pig, he practices flying in secret. He lands in some comical predicaments but remains frustrated and grounded. When his cousins try teaching him to get airborne by carrying him over the ocean and letting go, a scary fall to the bottom teaches Caramba that even though he can't perform like they do, he can do something they cannot. He can swim. Gay's characteristic gentle and funny watercolor illustrations make the story more appealing and the characters more alive. Once kids accept the flying cats, they will enjoy this subtle fantasy with its themes of self-esteem and individuality." -Julie Roach, Watertown Free Public Library, MA"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2005
K-Gr. 3. Caramba is despondent because he can't fly like all the other kittens. He tries to hide his failure, even from his porcine friend Portia, but cousins Bijou and Bug find out, hoist him into the sky, and let go. Does Caramba fly? Nope, he drops like a stone into the ocean--where he discovers not only a fascinating undersea world but also a very un-catlike ability to swoop and somersault through the water. "Cats can't swim! Everyone knows that!" cries Bijou. "Well, I can," is Caramba's exuberant response. Young self-doubters will take heart from this imaginative reworking of an enduring theme, illustrated in Gay's delicate, appropriately splashy watercolors.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)