Cat Girl’s Day Off

“I was a freak from a family of freaks.” High school sophomore Natalie “Nat” Ng has a “Talent” she’s not proud of: the ability to talk to cats. Her younger sister is a “supergenius” with chameleonlike abilities; her older sister is proficient in truth divination and levitation, and has X-ray vision; and her parents work for the Bureau of Extrasensory Regulation and Management. When a film crew comes to Nat’s Chicago high school to shoot a takeoff of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off things get fishy: the female star isn’t acting like herself, and Nat learns from a cat that celebrity blogger Easton West may not be who she claims to be. Along with her friends Oscar and Melly, Nat gets dragged into a whirlwind adventure to find out what happened to the real Easton. Pauley (Still Sucks to Be Me) offers amusing insights into the minds of cats, snappy dialogue, and a fast-paced plot. Readers should easily relate to Nat, and cat-lovers in particular will find a lot to enjoy in this romp. Ages 12–up. Agent: Susanna Einstein, Einstein Thompson Agency. (Apr.)