Cassie's life is confusing in a lot of ways. Since her father's death her mother has gone into a tailspin of grief, leaving Cassie to fend for her herself. Her once "best friend" has abandoned her for the "popular" crowd, but the awkward boy who also volunteers at the library is being unusually nice to her. As she and the boy, Joe, walk home from the library one day, they are caught in an intense localized storm. In the middle of the storm, Cassie hears the sound of a kitten mewing, and finds the kitten abandoned in a dumpster. She takes that kitten home and Joe helps her name him Albert. It isn't long before Joe and Cassie can tell that Albert is not an ordinary kitten. He seems to have kitten super powers, like making little fires all around Cassie's room, and doing flying leaps from cupboard to dresser. Meanwhile, a crazy man in town is warning everyone that the weird weather they have been having is related to the reappearance of dragons from a different dimension. The crazy weather and dragon talk could in any way be connected with her adorable little kitten, could they?
It has been a while since I read a middle grade fantasy. This one was pretty good. Cassie is a little girl bearing the tremendous weight of not only her own grief, but her mother's as well, yet still she holds up despite social pressure and food instability. Her relationship with Joe is sweet and McMullen shows how their shared adventure brings healing to both of them. There were a few elements of the story that were pretty cliche. When they mentioned a "prophecy" I think I actually rolled my eyes. Note to all fantasy writers: prophecies have no place in a book set in the modern period. If you are going to include a prophecy, you have to set your story in a period where people believe in prophecies. Still, it is a decent book and I think kids would enjoy it. (304 p, 2022)
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