Header image with four cats and the text: Pussreboots, a book review nearly every day. Online since 1997
Now 2025 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA+ Art Portfolio Purchase Art WIP

Recent posts


Month in review

Reviews
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
Big Dog...Little Dog: A Bedtime Story by P.D. Eastman
The Book Stops Here by Kate Carlisle
By Motor to the Golden Gate by Emily Post
Chapter and Hearse by Lorna Barrett
Cleopatra in Space: The Golden Lion by Mike Maihack
Cotton Tenants: Three Families by James Agee
Crafty Cat and the Crafty Camp Crisis by Charise Mericle Harper
Demon, Volume 3 by Jason Shiga
The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
The Fog by Kyo Maclear
The Great Good Summer by Liz Garton Scanlon
Lumberjanes, Volume 2: Friendship to the Max by Noelle Stevenson
Max Versus The Cube by Hanne Türk
Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle
Once Upon a Thriller by Carolyn Keene
The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess
A Perfect Day by Lane Smith
Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers by Harold Davis
Race the Night by Kirsten Hubbard Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eagar
Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali
Say No to Murder by Nancy Pickard
Sentenced to Death by Lorna Barrett
Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan
The Stone Warriors by Michael Northrop
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
Under the Dragon's Tail by Maureen Jennings
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang
Watch the Sky by Kirsten Hubbard

Miscellaneous
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 02)
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 09)
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 16)
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 23)
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 30)
September 2017 Sources
September 2017 Summary

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish


Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


Crafty Cat and the Crafty Camp Crisis: 10/12/17

Crafty Cat and the Crafty Camp Crisis by Charise Mericle Harper

Crafty Cat and the Crafty Camp Crisis by Charise Mericle Harper is set during a day of craft camp. Birdie, aka Crafty Cat, is super jazzed to be going to camp with her BFF but then the bully is there and the camp isn't as glamorous as she had imagined. Can she still have fun?

I've been upfront about this before. I am tired of the mean girl plot. I'm tired of the bully who is there just to be a bully. At the summer camp, the mean girl, for reasons that are never stated beyond the informed attribute that she is a bully likes to be first with everything. For craft time, she races through every project, even the group ones, to be first.

The other oddity about these books is Birdie's alter ego, Craft Cat. Whenever the mean girl upsets Birdie, she copes by imagining herself as Crafty Cat. In The Amazing Crafty Cat, Birdie's moments are an effort to salvage her birthday at school celebration. Here in craft camp, she should be in her element, but she's easily flustered by the teacher's questions, easily distracted, and quick to lash out.

I would like in future volumes to see some growth in the characters. I'd like to see Birdie learn to harness her creativity and her alter ego for more productive uses. Likewise, I'd like to get to know the mean girl more to see where she's coming from. I'd like to see her maybe get some comeuppance.

I realize that I'm not the target audience and my own craft loving daughter, who is, loves these books.

Three stars

Comments (0)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:

Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2025 Sarah Sammis