Kitty and the Treetop Chase

Paula Harrison's Kitty and the Treetop Chase is a moonlit superhero story for 7 year olds about a girl who finds out she isn't the only one with special powers.

What happens

Kitty can see in the dark, hear the tiniest sounds and talk to animals. She's training to be a real superhero, and her ginger kitten Pumpkin is her very best friend.

Then some good friends of Mum's move to Hallam City. Their son Ozzy is coming for a sleepover in Kitty's brand-new tree house. Kitty isn't sure she wants to share it. And Ozzy hardly says a word all evening.

In the middle of the night, Katsumi the cat taps on the window. A new dog is wrecking the bakery! Kitty has to own up to Ozzy that she's a superhero. He just grins and says he's one too.

He has owl powers. He's got a feathery cape that lets him glide from tree to tree, and a snowy owl friend called Olive. Who saw that coming? (Kitty certainly didn't.)

So off they go through the treetops and over the park wall after a howling golden dog. There's flour everywhere, a squashed lemon cake and a trail of sticky paw prints. Then there's a surprise in the park that turns the chase into a proper little puzzle.

The best bit is Kitty and Ozzy together. She wants the rooftops and he wants the trees. He tells her most people couldn't use his cape properly anyway, and she's quite sure she could! They're both just a little bit sure they're always right.

That feeling of meeting someone new who's good at the same thing as you will be familiar to lots of children. It's prickly and exciting at once. Can two superheroes in training ever work together before the dog gets away?

It's a short, speedy read in six chapters, with a page of real cat facts at the end. The moonlit gardens and swaying branches make it feel cosy rather than scary, even when there's howling in the dark.

It's the American edition, so your reader will meet Mom, pajamas and comforters along the way.

What to read next

If your reader wants more nights out over the city, Kitty and the Great Lantern Race has her chasing a sneaky masked thief across the rooftops during the Festival of Light, with most of her cat crew staying home because of the fireworks.