3 out of 4 stars
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Cat Detectives in the Korean Peninsula by R.F. Kristi is the eighth book in the Diary of a Snoopy Cat- the Inca Cat Detective Series. It is amazing how great a book this is, the characters seem unlikely for the kind of story, but the author makes it work beautifully. The authors love for animals is evident in all 120 pages.
Inca introduced herself in the beginning; she describes herself as a super-cat detective. As she narrated the story, she sounded bold and in control as she talked about her detective agency that consists of her brother, Fromage, her Siamese sister, Cara, Terrance (the dog), and her other friends, Monk and Polo, and how they solve crime together. She also talks about how her human mom was invited to Korea to be a judge in an international cooking competition by Le Cordon Bleu, which had both North and South Korean participants. This event also had other agendas like peacekeeping between the two Korean nations. If this trip didn’t happen, she probably may have never met Baram or even heard of Bo-Mi and all the adventures that took place after that would not have happened. What new challenges will Inca and her team face in an unfamiliar country?
Immediately I saw a cat in a Hanbok I knew I was going to read it. I liked that there was a family tree of the characters and all in the first few pages; it gives a summary of the household and an introduction of the characters. From the beginning, I liked Inca’s; she never avoided challenges, she always tried to stay positive, and she was self-confident. The relationship between Baram (a dog) and Bo-Mi (a cat) was skilfully portrayed.
I enjoyed the author’s writing style, for example, the description of the Siberian Tiger’s painting, the play on words like “purrrfect”, I found myself smiling on multiple occasions. I like how Inca knew her heritage/ancestry; this can be used by parents as a reference when explaining things like these to kids. I discovered that there were so many lessons to learn from neatness to teamwork, peace, the importance of family kindness, healthy competition, loyalty, and genuine friendship. The representation of the Korean culture was impressive, I could see the beauty of the country, and I was pleased. I like that this book feels like a subtle political statement calling for peace amongst nations. There were so many things I liked about this book, no dislikes at all.
From the beginning, I could already see editing, spacing, and text on top text errors. I am not sure if this is particular to my copy only, but it was quite a lot. That said, it wasn’t too distracting, and the errors found can be corrected with proper editing. I will recommend that although this is a children’s book, parents should read it to younger kids as it can be confusing to them because of the errors, and they might not get the message. I will also recommend this to adults who would like to take baby steps in experiencing other countries and cultures. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because there are so many good messages that kids will benefit from, but I had to deduct a star because of the errors I found.
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Cat Detectives in the Korean Peninsula
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