Just Kitten Around (Bodega Cats #2)

Burgos, Hilda Eunice and Faison, Siara (illustrations).
Bodega Cats: Just Kitten Around (#2)
January 21, 2025 by Henry Holt and Co.
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this illustrated chapter book, Yesenia (who is Miguel's cousin from Picture Perfect) is feeling very anxious about fifth grade. There's a lot going on, and she feels that she has to excel at things, like science fair, that her three older sisters did when they were her age. Dr. Morales, her physician, recommends getting a pet to help her with stress. Since a cat at Miguel's bodega has had kittens, the family goes to adopt one there. Yesenia admires a yellow kitten who is a little wild; Miguel's family calls her pura candela (a firecracker). The parents are concerned, but let Yesenia take Candy home. The cat is an immediate problem, especially since the parents don't really want a pet. Candy hangs from the curtains, smashes a vase, pees on the carpet, and eventually scratches Lucita, Yesenia's four year old sister. Yesenia doesn't mind; she's impressed that the kitten does her own thing, no matter what anyone says, but the parents react by banishing the cat to a cage. Yesenia has some problems at school, and has recently gotten a "D" on a social studies test. She's so afraid to show it to her parents that she forgets her mother's signature, even though her teacher is very understanding and asks how she can help. There is a social studies project that she's working on with her friend Frankie. At one point, Candy manages to jump out of a window, and decides to hang out with other cats on the street, to mixed results. Yesenia goes looking for Candy, but the kitten runs away from her. While she and Frankie are going around their neighborhood, taking pictures for their history project, they look for Candy, and eventually find her. The kitten's absence softens the parents' attitudes toward her, so when Yesenia gets in trouble for doing poorly in school and forging the mother's signature, she decides to run away. She gets locked into the school library when everyone is gone for the day. She regrets her actions, and the custodian lets her out, and her family forgives her as well. 

Strengths: Up until the 1970s, even young adult novels would have occasional illustrations, and I'm a big fan of bringing this back. Would Charlotte's Web have been the same without the Garth Williams' illustrations? Beverly Cleary's teen novels without the Joe and Beth Krush pictures? Donald Sobol without Leonard Shortall? No! Kittens are absolutely adorable, so it's great to see Faison capture Candy's antics. Yesenia's problems are ones that will resonate with later elementary readers, who might make some of the mistakes that Yesenia makes. I would also like to see more family dynamics portrayed in books; I do have a few students who come from larger families like Yesenia's, and when I was growing up with just one younger brother, I was enthralled by books like All of a Kind Family. 
Weaknesses: I'm not sure that getting a kitten for Yesenia was great for the animal! Things work out in the end, but I found it hard to believe that any doctor would suggest adding a cat to an already very busy and crowded family situation, especially when the parents were so angry about having an animal! I'm also not a fan of encouraging children to run away to solve their problems, especially in the city, but this did turn out well in the end. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Jacobsen's Twig and Turtle or Brown's Lola Levine series, but seemed a bit young for middle school readers.