Marshmallow Pie The Cat Superstar in Hollywood

Clara Vulliamy's Marshmallow Pie The Cat Superstar in Hollywood is a funny animal story for 5 year olds, told by a very fluffy cat who's quite sure he's the biggest star in town.

What happens

Pie has landed a part in a major new movie. He's playing the villain's cat (a role he takes extremely seriously). So off he goes to Hollywood with his human, Amelia, and her dad.

There's a white stretch limousine and a hotel suite with a HUGE bed. There's a lift Pie refuses to get out of until he's been up and down several more times. And there's a packet of Cod Crispies in the car, which he decides it would be rude not to finish.

Then he meets Madison. She's a famous young model with big hair and a catchphrase printed on everything she sells. Pie thinks she's wonderful. They're so alike!

Madison takes him shopping and to a pet spa. She orders him every dish on a fancy pets' menu. She even swaps the green bow tie Amelia made him for a shiny gold one from a posh shop.

Your reader will spot what Pie can't. Madison barely looks at Amelia. She talks over her. She calls Pie "the perfect accessory". And Amelia goes quieter and quieter.

That's the real fun of this one. Pie tells the story and he's hopelessly vain, so he keeps getting things wrong and the child gets to be the clever one. Isn't it lovely being one step ahead of the storyteller?

He's very silly too. He unrolls a whole roll of star-covered toilet paper, just to appreciate the effect. After the pet spa he's been floofed up to twice his normal size, and he hides from the enormous cat staring out of the bathroom mirror (it's him, of course).

Underneath the jokes there's a gentle story about what makes a real friend. It never feels preachy. Pie gets there in his own slightly ridiculous way.

What to read next

It's the third book about Pie and it stands on its own. But if your reader falls for him, the very first Marshmallow Pie book is in the library too. That's where Amelia decides her lazy, snack-loving cat should be a star, and Pie can't even be bothered to sit up for a piece of ham.