Katie the Catsitter

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-11

Chapters 12-15

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Authorial Context: Colleen AF Venable

Colleen AF (Ann Felicity) Venable began her career designing hundreds of graphics novels for First Second Books, several of which won awards. Her most popular work is the young adult graphic novel, Kiss Number 8, with illustrator Ellen T. Crenshaw (2019), which was nominated for a National Book Award. She is also the author of the Guinea Pig Pet Shop Private Eye series of picture books, Mervin the Sloth is About to Do the Best Thing in The World (with Ruth Chan) (2016), and The Oboe Goes Boom Boom Boom (with Lian Cho) (2020).

The Katie the Catsitter series is Venable’s first foray into middle-grade graphic novels and draws heavily from her personal life and interests. In addition to writing, Venable spends a lot of her time helping animals and works as an adoption counselor at a local animal rescue. In Katie the Catsitter, both animals and animal rights are central to the story and its themes: Katie spends much of her time caring for Ms. Lang’s 217 cats, the cats are highly intelligent and all have unique skills and abilities, and Ms. Lang is an animal rights activist. In the author biography at the back of the Random House Graphic edition, Venable states that she wrote the book because “[she] wanted there to be more cool female superheroes” and to tell a story about the difficulties of growing apart from your best friend.

Series Context: Katie the Catsitter Series

The Katie the Catsitter series is a coming-of-age story about Katie’s experiences growing up in New York City as she navigates changing friendships, taking responsibility for 217 super-intelligent cats, and coming into her own as a superhero’s sidekick. The first entry in the series, Katie the Catsitter, introduces many of the recurring characters: Katie, the series’ kind, resourceful and resilient 12-year-old protagonist; her best friend, Bethany, with whom she begins to grow apart after Bethany spends the summer at a camp Katie can’t afford; Ms. Lang, a mysterious upstairs neighbor who offers Katie the cat sitting job and later turns out to be the supervillain/animal rights activist, the Mousetress; and the Eastern Screech, the city’s most popular but seemingly ineffective and narcissistic superhero. The novel also establishes some of the series’ underlying themes, such as Animal Rights, Social Activism, and the Law; The Difference Between Appearances and Reality; and Changing Friendships and Growing Apart.

The next two entries in the series, Katie the Catsitter: Best Friends for Never, and Katie the Catsitter: Secrets and Sidekicks continue to explore these themes while introducing more superheroes and villains that muddy things further. The second book picks up where the first ends, dealing with the ramifications of the summer as Katie and Bethany struggle to pick up the pieces of their friendship. Bethany’s new boyfriend and the fact that Katie has a big secret make things harder. Katie has difficulty finding time for her new friend group once school has started, and continues to learn what it means to be a good friend. On top of this, learning to become a sidekick turns out to be less interesting than Katie anticipated, and she yearns to get out and into the action. The idea that things are not always what they appear becomes even more complicated, as the Mousetress continues to be blamed for things she didn’t do, while so-called heroes like the Eastern Screech are given credit they don’t deserve.