Penguin Australia 29 September 2020

ISBN: 9781760894382

Imprint: Puffin

RRP: $19.99

If you, like me, loved the first Catvinkle book and couldn’t wait to share it with your kiddos, you will also love this new hilarious episode with all the crazy animal characters of the first plus some equally quirky new ones!

Catvinkle and Ula love their human children friends, Anja and Ferdi, and are very excited that the children are visiting the cosy home they share with Mr Sabatini but the kidsare distracted and unable to fully enjoy their catch-up with their animal besties. The two sheep who live at Aunt Beehive’s place are suspected of eating prize tulips and under threat of being sent away out of Amsterdam.

The children and the animals, of course with help from their other wise friend Lobbus the brave dog, are able to establish that the two sheep might be quite silly but cannot possibly have eaten the tulips.

The evidence they secure is no help however when nasty Twinkiepaws, still madly jealous of Catvinkle, incites the cats and kittens of Amsterdam to put the sheep on trial for ruining the beauty of the city.

It’s going to take more than the information the group has gained from the human scientists and certainly more than Catvinkle’s dubious skills as a defense lawyer so it’s a quick trip to Russia to seek out the legally-minded bears, Grisha and Sivka, to help out. In an adventure that involves a very powerful and rather cranky wolf, some visiting Australian koalas, the glamorous Ketzington D. Kitten and some fancy footwork side-stepping various problems the trial reaches a very satisfactory conclusion for all – well, except for Twinkiepaws.

Aside from the humour there is a lot to think about around fairness and justice, compassion and loyalty and the critical endangered status of riverine rabbits (gotta love a story with bunnies in it!).

Catvinkle continues to delight with her very obvious self-admiration but her innate compassionate nature, ably encouraged by the far more placid and sensible Ula.

Don’t miss out on this one – and of course pick up the first if you missed it – your kids from around 10 years upwards will love the introduction!