Kirkus Reviews

Panicked, Charlie sets off to find his kidnapped scientist parents in this adventurous romp set in a future England when pollution has banned cars, closed schools, and created an asthma epidemic. A network of cats enables Charlie, who speaks Cat, to stow away on a river police launch, hook up with a floating circus on a ship bound for Paris, help six lions escape captivity, via the city's canals, and board a train for Venice, where he thinks his black father and white mother are being held. The tension builds like Christie's Orient Express , as a snow avalanche stalls the train and King Boris of Bulgaria stymies the villains chasing the lions and Charlie. Abrupt as a TV thriller that flashes "To Be Continued," this first in a trilogy screeches to a halt at a cliff-hanging moment, with those very words. This inventive cat-and-mouse game combines hi-jinks with messages of mixed marriages, greedy pharmaceutical conglomerates, and environmentally caused allergies. The lion-face cover and clever cat device set the pace and impel the plot. Intriguing. (Fiction. 9-12)

ALA Booklist

At the start of this fantasy set in the not-too-distant future, by a British mother-daughter team writing under a pseudonym, the scientist parents of young Charlie Ashanti are kidnapped for their newly discovered asthma vaccine. The classic drama of a child who must rely on his own resources is enriched by two evocative plot elements: Charlie's ability to communicate with cats, and Thibaudet's Floating Circus, a shipboard big top that offers him passage to Paris, the destination recommended by his feline advisors. En route Charlie bonds with the circus' homesick lions, and his daring plan to free them brings the novel to an exciting but abrupt conclusion that will leave readers clamoring for the second volume in the planned trilogy. A 22-page description of a circus performance may test children's attention spans, and Charlie's levelheaded strategizing sometimes strains credibility. Still, such flaws will hardly matter once readers are caught up in the suspenseful action and the pleasures of visiting a plausible, if troubling, version of our future.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

This first volume (by a mother-daughter team writing under one name) in a planned trilogy melds a rousing traveling circus adventure with shades of cautionary science fiction. The near-future setting serves only to explain the absence of cars and the presence of the debilitating allergies they have caused. Otherwise, the story feels 21st-century in nearly every respect. Charlie's parents, both scientists, disappear from their home in Britain, and Charlie suspects foul play. Through flashbacks, readers learn that Charlie can communicate with cats (while he was in the jungle with his father as a toddler, Charlie's blood commingled with that of a leopard cub). Through a network of cats (who feel indebted to Charlie's parents for reasons that become clear later in the novel), Charlie is able to track the scientists, who have been kidnapped by a nebulous organization called The Corporacy. His journey to rescue them makes for a page-turning read, as he becomes the helper to a lion trainer on a circus boat bound for Paris. The ending may leave readers in a lurch, but the idea introduced toward the conclusion—that a company's best interests may not be in the cure to a disease (allergies), but rather in the profits to be made from the sale of its remedies—provides much food for thought, and fodder for future installments. Corder's most profound metaphor might be Charlie's slick analogy: that those employed by a corporation are not so different from the beautiful lions trapped in cages, held captive to "perform tricks they don't want to perform, to hand over their specialness and their skills." Ages 8-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Dec.)

Horn Book

Although set in the future, this book has an old-fashioned tone, which provides a stable underpinning for the wild plot. Charlie, a boy who can speak Cat, sets off to track down his kidnapped parents. Along the way, he joins a floating circus and agrees to help the lions escape. An intriguing beginning written by an adult and child team, this is the first novel in a planned trilogy.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A boy who can speak with felines traverses a Europe fraught with rampant, mysterious allergies to find his abducted parents, with the aid of a team of lions. According to <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW, this novel "melds a rousing traveling circus adventure with shades of cautionary science fiction." Ages 8-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-Charlie, a boy who communicates with felines, uses his ability as he sets off to rescue his kidnapped parents. He joins a floating circus that happens to be headed in the right direction, and teams up with some lions, planning their escape in return for their help with his quest. The boy's enemies include a teenage thug who's been hired to catch him and a jealous lion trainer who wants to use Charlie to further his own career. Numerous plot twists and shifts in setting keep things moving briskly, but unevenly. Charlie's flight with the lions to a Paris train station is suspenseful, for example, but his rescue by the King of Bulgaria is too contrived to be involving. The large cast of supporting characters also brings mixed results, ranging from several unmemorable villains to some fairly interesting cats. Charlie himself is brave and smart, regularly applying his parents' wise advice when in a tough spot, but he never comes alive as a truly distinct or particularly interesting hero. His knowledge of cat speech makes an intriguing plot device, but that skill doesn't seem to influence his personality or thought process much. Still, it's a fascinating premise, and sets up some surprising and exciting situations. The book concludes mid-adventure, with Charlie still on the way to rescue his parents. In an unconvincing wrap-up, he decides that they must certainly be safe for now and suddenly gains confidence that he will succeed. Despite weaknesses, there's some inventive storytelling here, and readers who stick with it will look forward to the sequel.-Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.