2 out of 4 stars
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The Diary of a Snoopy Cat is a children’s book which follows Inca, a Siberian feline, as she attempts to solve the case which could launch her into becoming a world-famous detective cat. Inca’s family and friends join her to form Inca & Company, a detective agency, when a case regarding a hefty villain trying to rob a kind man of his home comes their way. Being the namesake of the agency, Inca strives to solve the case on her own and make everyone proud of her. Inca does know a more experienced detective dog, but he is away attempting to find a missing person before Christmas rolls around.
The Diary of a Snoopy Cat is not written in standard diary format (i.e. “Dear Diary…”) but is a first-feline narrative with plenty of dialogue. The book begins by giving a brief introduction of each member of Inca’s family: Aunt Florence, Missy (“Mom”), brother Fromage, sister Cara, and hamster Charlotte. Before even completing this section, I was in love with the characters! Each character has a distinctive personality, from refined Cara to cheese-loving Fromage. Throughout the book, the siblings keep up a natural banter that I could relate to as one of three children. Characters from outside the family are introduced later in the book and slide right into the story.
Despite such enjoyable characters and a truly interesting plot, I would not want my students or the young members of my family to read this book. Books are a wonderful way to instill values in children. Unfortunately, I found that this book fell short on the moral plane. The villain of the tale is an overweight man whom the team deemed “the Stinky Porkster.” The animals also made several other snide comments focused around the man’s weight. I am afraid that having the heroes of this story judge and harshly discuss a man largely based on his physical appearance could encourage bullying and create or increase shame within children who hold more weight than their peers. Additionally, Inca spends a significant portion of the story going behind her friends' and family’s backs because she wants to solve the case by herself. She is applauded for this prideful and dangerous course of action. Similar to the point about bullying, I believe this could be a negative lesson that children grasp onto as they try to become more like the hero.
The book’s editing was also in need of improvement. It seemed The Diary of a Snoopy Cat did not have the benefit of professional editing and was left riddled with errors in punctuation and grammar. Books for young readers and writers must exemplify strong language skills. Additionally, I arrived at what I believed to be the perfect ending point for the book. However, this was several chapters before the actual end. So, in my opinion, those last chapters dragged on. Kristi did utilize this opportunity to wrap up all of the lingering points from earlier in the book, so the chapters served a purpose. I simply believe they could have been shorter or that the story could have been organized differently to include them all and still end neatly.
For parents and children who are not sensitive to questionable moral messages, this book could be a great learning tool and source of entertainment. R.F. Kristi utilized simple to mildly complex sentences with occasional higher-level vocabulary. When a word or phrase needed extra emphasis, Kristi enlarged that text, and she used bullet points for various purposes. I believe that the varying text sizes added to the dynamics of the story and would be enjoyed by both young and older children but that the bullet points were overused. Many ideas were drawn out across several pages and tangential thoughts regularly interrupted the story progression. Thus, I would personally use the book to strengthen a student’s reading endurance rather than for story-time or to practice reading comprehension. The font was fun and fanciful but caused the lowercase letters “h” and “n” to be easily confused. Considering these points, I would suggest that children in 4th through 6th grade read the book. Younger children who read it independently should have an adult nearby for assistance.
Jorje Valle and Video Explainer contributed art that accentuated the text and illustrated some of the implied ideas. The images were not a focal point of the book but served as humorous additions to the story, further solidifying my thought that the book is for older children.
All in all, I rate The Diary of a Snoopy Cat 2 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed the premise of the book and believe a good story was presented. However, I removed two stars due to 1) the grand amount of grammar and punctuation errors and 2) the negative influence I believe some of the dialogue could have on impressionable children’s minds.
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Diary of a Snoopy Cat
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