Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #1

Marciano, Johnny, Raymond, Emily, and Mommaerts, Robb  (Illustrations)
Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #1 
February 26th 2019 by Penguin Workshop
ARC provided by publisher

Raj is unhappy that his family has moved from Brooklyn, New York where he had lots of friends and things to do, do rainy Elba, Oregon. Even more unhappy is Wyss-Kuzz, the deposed Lord High Emperor of Planet Lytterbox who is exiled to Earth... and ends up on Raj's doorstep. Raj is hoping to finally get his parents to agree to let him have a pet, and Wyss-Kuzz (who is renamed Klawde by Raj's dad) just wants to get out of the rain and have a space space from which he can plan his return. Raj gets sent to a survival camp for the week, where the participants spend a lot of time in the woods chewing on cattails and trying not to get hopelessly lost, and Klawde spends his days eviscerating toasters for parts to build the equipment he needs to communicate with his planet and make his way back there. He tries to befriend local felines, who are ridiculously stupid, and eventually takes Raj into his confidence, since Raj has opposable thumbs and can help with building things. Raj manages to survive his wilderness experience, and Klawde makes contact with his home planet, and perfects the teleporter, but all is not good when he makes his way back to Lytterbox. Can Raj save his friend in volume two?
Strengths: I really enjoyed Raj's experiences of moving and having to spend time at camp, but the hook of this illustrated novel is definitely the evil Klawde. There are lots of laugh-out-loud moments in both storylines, and the juxtaposition between Raj's real life problems and Klawde's out-of-this world ones is fun. This is a fairly short tome that will appeal to fans of O'Donnell's Hamstersaurus Rex, Blabey's Bad Guys, and Brockington's Catstronauts.
Weaknesses: To be more appealing to the Notebook Novel fans, I would have included even more pictures. I am never a fan of cutesy word play like Lytterbox and Wyss-Kuzz, but that's just me.
What I really think: Also a good choice for readers who liked Winnick's Hilo and Braillier's Last Kids on Earth and are not overly concerned that cats are going to kill us all.

Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat: Enemies #2 (Klawde #2)
Johnny Marciano, Emily Raymond, Robb Mommaerts (Illustrations)February 26th 2019 by Penguin Workshop
Copy provided by the publisher

From Goodreads:
Klawde is not your basic cat. He's an emperor from another planet, exiled to Earth. He's cruel. He's cunning. He's brilliant... and he's also Raj Banerjee's best friend.

Klawde and Raj are back! As summer turns to fall, our favorite warlord cat remains in his pitiful exiled existence. But Raj has an even scarier prospect than cosmic exile: starting at a new school.

And if things didn't seem complicated enough, both cat and human are confronted with two figures from their past they did not expect to pop up in Elba, Oregon...

Heavily illustrated, with a hilarious, biting voice that switches between Raj's and Klawde's perspectives, this is the story of an unlikely friendship that emerges as two fish out of water continue to find their footing in strange new worlds.