Review: The Rescued Kitten

The Rescued Kitten by Holly Webb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The strength of Holly Webb's books...one of their strengths, anyway...is the relatively predictable plot. Child has always wanted pet, child gets pet, maybe child can't keep pet/loses pet, child keeps/finds pet, everyone's happy. It's a formula that has seen Holly through more than forty of these books, and they're fantastic for newly confident readers who find comfort in familiarity. This story mixes things up a little...the newly discovered kitten isn't in any real danger, but her siblings and mother might be...but the core of the story stays the same.

The other strength of Holly's books is her writing. I often find myself tearing up as I read. Holly has certainly hit on a winning formula here, and long may it continue.


It must be her mother coming back to get her, the kitten decided. Her mother wouldn't abandon her like this. The kitten tried again to wriggle, and then mewed, as loud as she could. Find me, help me, take me home, I'm frightened!
Even though it was her loudest mew, the sound was still very faint. Hardly more than a squeak. She tried again, squeaking and tugging back against the wire as hard as she could. It bounced a little and she squeaked once more, with pain this time as the long fur on the back of her neck pulled and the wire pressed into her skin.
The noise was coming closer and she twisted her body, pulling to try and see what was making it, still calling faintly to her mother. But instead of a cat hurrying to rescue her, the kitten saw two frightened, wide eyed faces. She wrenched at the wire again and the cut on her neck went deeper. It hurt and she sagged down miserably. She was terrified and so, so tired.
She didn't understand. All she could do was close her eyes and hope that whoever this was would go away and then her mother would come.

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