A review by hsquared
Catlantis by Anna Starobinets

4.0

Baguette, the ginger house cat, is in love with a beautiful stray named Purriana, but living on the twelfth floor of the Petrov family’s Moscow apartment building makes courtship rather difficult. Fortunately, the Petrov’s dog, Bonehead, is willing to deliver notes of love and poetry, so it isn’t long before the lovely Purriana has agreed to become Baguette’s wife. There’s just the matter of the ancient feline tradition of a heroic feat, and Purriana has a doozey of a request: she wants Baguette to travel to the city of Catlantis and return with one of the Catlantic flowers whose scent grants nine lives to cats. As a descendant of one of the original Catlantis cats, Baguette has the ability to time travel, but complications arise when the black cat Noir (who’s also in love with Purriana) uses his black magic talents to prevent Baguette from succeeding. Baguette’s benevolent tolerance of humans and his dog friend is reminiscent of other literary cats (and more than a few real ones), and the nasty Noir would feel at home with Rotten Ralph. Stabrobinets’ quirky and fanciful story is full of puns and word play, sure to tickle the fancy of any cat aficionado.

*Review copy from Children's Literature