Cuddle the Cutest Kitten: Superstar Dreams

Hayley Daze's Cuddle the Cutest Kitten: Superstar Dreams is a magical animal story for 6 year olds about a kitten who whisks two best friends onto the stage of a talent show.

What happens

Olivia and Grace live next door to each other. Grace can climb any tree going and Olivia can't climb one at all (she's just fallen out of the cherry tree to prove it).

Then a sunbeam breaks through the clouds and they hear a little bell. It's Cuddle, a black-and-white kitten with a crooked tail and a very loud purr. When Cuddle purrs, magic happens.

This time the girls wake up in the pitch dark, stuck inside a wooden box. Grace is afraid of the dark, so it's a scary moment. Then the doors pop open and they realise they're on a stage. A boy magician in a floppy top hat has just announced he's going to cut them in half!

Cuddle saves the day, of course. And the audience think she's part of the act.

It turns out they're at a talent show called Star Maker. Backstage they meet Chloe, who's shaking with nerves in a long Shakespeare dress. Her mum has chosen a poem for her to recite. But what Chloe REALLY wants to do is sing.

The funniest bit is Hypno the Great. He borrows Chloe's lucky necklace to swing in front of Grace's eyes, and Cuddle ends up making him hypnotise himself instead. There's a rock band called The Krazy Katz, some very quick dressmaking and a kitten let loose on a drum kit.

It's a gentle story about being brave without a lucky charm. Chloe has a stage to face, and Olivia has a tree of her own to be brave about. According to Olivia, good friends beat any lucky charm.

The chapters are short and full of action, so it's a lovely one to read together or for a newly confident reader to try alone. Your reader would probably quite like a magic kitten of their own by the end.

What to read next

This is Cuddle's second adventure, so if you'd like to start where Olivia and Grace first meet, Cuddle's very first adventure is in the library too. Grace has just moved in next door, Olivia pops up over the garden fence, and Cuddle carries them both off to the sands around an ancient pyramid.