Stick Cat: A Tail of Two Kitties

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Author(s)

Tom Watson

Publisher

HarperCollins

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

May 03, 2016

ISBN

9780062411006

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There’s a new pet in town: Stick Cat! Perfect for fans of Big Nate, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and the Stick Dog books, Stick Cat features Tom Watson’s trademark combination of laughs, adventure, and hilarious stick-figure drawings. It’s a big day in the big city for Stick Cat and his best friend, Edith. There are treasures to hunt, songs to sing, pigeons to catch, and naps to take. But way up on the twenty-third floor, danger lurks just around the corner. Terrible noises and violent crashes trap a desperate man in the building across the alley. Stick Cat will need to navigate his way across the alley—and around Edith’s peculiar ways—to attempt a rescue.

It’s a big day in the big city for Stick Cat and his best friend, Edith. There are treasures to hunt, songs to sing, pigeons to catch, and naps to take. But way up on the twenty-third floor, danger lurks just around the corner. Terrible noises and violent crashes trap a desperate man in the building across the alley. Stick Cat will need to navigate his way across the alley—and around Edith’s peculiar ways—to attempt a rescue.

Editor reviews

2 reviews

From the author of Stick Dog!

May 19, 2016 (Updated: June 12, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Stick Cat and his friend Edith live at the top of a very tall apartment house. They have managed to scratch a hole through the wall inside bathroom cabinets so that they can visit each other. They have several games they like to play, but they also like to listen to Mr. Music in the next building tune pianos. When a nearby car crash causes Mr. Music to get stuck inside a piano, Stick Cat springs to action, with the somewhat less cautious and intelligent Edith to help him. Edith is also very daring, and is willing to jump into a neighbor's apron that is hanging on a movable clothesline. The two manage to get into Mr. Music's building, and Edith manages to save the day, although her obsession with grooming her fur almost ends with Stick Cat falling from the clothes line. In the end, everything is okay, and the cats rest up for their next (I hope!) adventure!

Good Points

This is the sort of notebook novel that the children enjoy but that I find clever as well. Stick Cat's love of adventure and willingness to help Mr. Music was charming, and the fact that this was very different from Stick Dog was appreciated.

Watson does a great job at combining the humor that children enjoy (the cats jumping from building to building) with more sophisticated humor that adults will find funny. Edith is a feline portrayal of the type of person we have all had to work with, so Stick Cat's frustration made me roll my eyes in empathy.

There are a lot of illustrated novels for younger readers out, and it's hard to find ones that are appropriate for each stage of a child's development. These are great to have from elementary school until the end of middle school-- I've seen 8th graders chortle at them as much as younger students. There's just something simplistically appealing about Watson's primitive drawings and portrayal of animals doing what we all imagine animals would do if they could!

I'm extremely interested to see what the next book will bring, but very sad that there will be no Stick Chicken.