Poppy's Place #2 Trouble at The Cat Cafe by Katrina Charman and Lucy Truman (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E)

14th July 2016, Stripes Publishing, 192 pages, Paperback, Review copy 

Summary from Little Tiger Press

Isla is overjoyed that Mum has agreed to look into the idea of opening a cat café. It means Poppy and Roo can be the family’s forever cats, and there’ll be lots of other cats coming and going, too! But as they research the idea, the ‘to do’ list just gets longer. Can the family rally together to solve the problems or will this be the end of Isla’s dream? 

Nayu's thoughts

This arrived in the post on a day I needed some cheering up, so I was delighted to see it after the awesomeness of book #1. I love how family centrered Isla's life is, how they all have different skills to help make the cat cafe a success. It isn't all plain sailing whih I feel is realistic of a new business. The hurdles are unexpected, but working together plus some luck does make their dreams come true (nearly. There had better be a book #3!

I loved how attached Isla gets to cats she barely knows, with her love bouncing off the text and also the incredible illusations. I burst into tears on page 106 because it hit home just how bad some animals are when they come into care. I cried again at the end for the happy ending, which I hope isn't the end of Isla's adventures. I liked how alongside the cat cafe Isla has to cope with starting secondary school which includes some embarrassing events that she wanta to forget, but life has other ideas. 

Her gran is spectacular with baking (though not at handling the coffee machine), her mum says no less often, Isla's sister proves she is soft hearted despite being a bit frosty, and her little brother Milo creates mischief with the cats, especially the kitten Dynamo who he adopts as a side-kick. I think Dynamo helps him destress over wearing hearing aids, which he still steuggles with. Oh I got teary eyed when something gets planted, as losing a grandad is heartbreaking. You can read this without reading book 1, but try to read book 1 first so you know the background. I reread it to remind myself of the story (that's my excuse!)

Find out more on Lucy's website.

Suggested read

Check out where the story begins in  Poppy's Place: The Homemade Cat Cafe by Katrina Charman and Lucy Truman (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)