It’s not often that you get to read a books written by someone who started them when she was nine years old. Even more rare is that they’re actually really good.
That’s exactly the situation with Stanley and Katrina, both book one and book two. The author, Felicia Maziarz, composed these two books about the relationship between dogs and cats, basing them on both her own animals and her imagination.
In The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets, Stanley (the dog) and Katrina (the cat) decide to get acquainted after finding themselves stuck in the same household for three years. They communicate via letters, and these are what we read in the book. They grow to know more about each other, and though they never really become friends they do team up and commiserate when the occasion calls for it.
They book is a series of anecdotes, from Stanley being judged by the Wise Cat Council (something Katrina made up), to messing up the Christmas tree, to trying to get out of pet shows by purposefully failing. There are a lot of very funny jokes here that I laughed out loud about.
The Observations of the Obstreperous Animals is more of the same kind of adventures. Katrina decides to create The United States of Katrina, the two of them are taken to a psychic, and they have to get out of agility training. This one is also very funny.
Both books are around 90 pages and 10,000 words, and well worth getting for free on Kindle Unlimited. Felicia has indicated that she won’t be writing any more installments, but these books are already a great accomplishment for someone so young. They are suitable for ages 6 to 13, and especially for animal lovers.
These books are based on a great idea (projecting human motivations and actions onto animals), as anyone who has been around animals for any length of time can tell. You can get the first one here. You should also check out Felicia’s website, particularly for the excellent interview program The Write Chat with the esteemed “This Kid” Erik.
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