Kitten Crowd

Animal Ark Pets (UK Order) #2

by Ben M. Baglio

Mandy Hope, the daughter of two veterinarians who run the Animal Ark pet clinic, must find a new home for six fluffy kittens, in a new series for young animal lovers. Original.

Genres: Childrens, Animals, Cats, Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Family

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Ben M. Baglio created the brief for two series of children's books - Dolphin Diaries and Animal Ark. Dolphin Diaries features a girl and her family from Florida, who travel around the world as marine biologists and study dolphins. Animal Ark features two children who work together to help animals and solve animal-related mysteries. The books were written by commissioned writers in the UK under Baglio's instruction using the pseudonym Lucy Daniels. Each ghostwriter is named with a 'Special Thanks' on the copyright page.

Using his real name he also wrote the book series The Pet Finders Club, featuring a group of three children who search for peoples lost pets.

Reviews

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick Review:

Kitten Crowd is an adorable middle grade novel about rescuing animals. Young animal lovers will absolutely love this book about the super sweet kittens that need to find a home! The book is simple to read and great for nine to twelve year olds. I would highly recommend picking this book up for middle grade readers searching for something fun and light to read!

Three out of five stars.

[Georgina Willetts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katie is moving house and her cat has had a litter of six Kittens. Her mom will have to give them all to Welford Animal Sanctuary if new homes cannot be found by the end of the week.

With the help of her friend Mandy Carrot, Ginger, Sam, Clown, George and Cheeky start looking for a new home.

My favourite kitten was Clown and I loved that there was a happy ending.

[Nicole Yncera]

This book is about a girl named Mandy who helps out a friend. Her friend, Katie, had a cat that had six kittens. THe problem is Katie is moving away and she can't take the kittens with her. Mandy needs to help her friend find the kittens a new home. They only have one week to do it!

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok though.

[Black Tiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a very cute book.

[DeeAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great children's series for those that love animals or want to become a vet, both which describe my girl. We are enjoying this series.

[Jane M · Rating 5 out of 5]

luv it!

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love when the rescue the animals

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of the Hodder UK edition credited to the fake author Lucy Daniels. In America, this would be published by Scholastic and credited to the fake author Ben Baglio. The real author was Animal Ark veteran ghostwriter Sue Welford. Paul Howard did the illustrations.

Here, we have a variation of the very first published Animal Ark book, Kittens in the Kitchen, where a litter of kittens needs a home. The blurb here on Goodreads gives too much of the plot away. Luckily, I read the book without reading that blurb, so was delightfully surprised.

Blackie plays a significant role here, so I was pleased, as he's my favorite character in the Animal Ark Universe. This book is also the first time Walter Pickard appears. I think this is also the first time Mrs. McFarlane appears, too.

This is more of a 3.5 than a 4 star book, but I decided to round up. So sue me. I knocked a little off for a technical detail -- tortoiseshell cats are usually females, not males. Male torties are extremely rare, so nobody commenting on this is a bit of a boner. This makes me think that the veterinarians thanked on the copyright page are ficticious.

Another problem, although slight, is that UK firefighters usually will NOT get cats or kittens out of trees, unless the RSPCA is involved. I'm not sure if this was the policy in Yorkshire for ca. 1990, when this book was set.

There's a B plot where Mandy has too keep a diary for school, but that plot is rather forgettable with the strength of the A plot.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a series about proper animal care, they sure do feed cats a LOT of milk! Ha-RUMPH!

The books so far also seem to get into a lot of "family that didn't spay/neuter their pets and suddenly have to find homes for all the babies" shenanigans. Or maybe that's because I keep reading the cat ones instead of, oh, the goose ones? I don't know.

The story's okay for what it is, though, if predictable (since the target audience would probably be traumatised reading about an UNhappy ending for the kittens, or any other animals). About the biggest twist was when Mandy and James went to get the kittens, only to find Katie's family VANISHED before they said they were leaving! So from there, it's a matter of, okay, how do we get back on track for the obvious happy ending? I mean, even George the cat hater wanted George the kitten named after him! How much more "obvious happy ending is obvious" can you get?

Recommended for cat lovers! (but PLEASE do not feed them cow milk)

[Cupcake · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The book was good because I like cats, it was also exciting and funny." - 9 year old me.

[Francesca Losacco · Rating 4 out of 5]

it s a cute a book i love it it takes about a girl that need t go away and she can take just one cat and she has a lot of other kittens so she need to fid someone to give it to and she has some probles ireally like that book :)