Mehitabel Is No Fool - Georgia Zola - ★★★

AUTHOR: Georgia Zola

ILLUSTRATOR: Mira Amaya

GENRE: MG Fiction, Animals.

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A nice chapter book for tween-aged beginner readers. Needs more fine-tuning to serve its purpose better.

The story focusses on the titular Mehitabel, a “dainty and dignified” black cat who knows that she is in charge of the Donnely household, where 5th grader Henry resides with his parents. Mehitabel has tried her best to train the humans into following her orders, but humans, unfortunately, can be quite silly and tough to manage. When Mehitabel persuades her friend Thomas—an orange marmalade cat from next door—to get her a pet, Thomas brings her a little mouse, whom Mehitabel christens ‘Rose’. Thus begin the new adventures in the Donnely house, with Henry watching out for his pet Mehitabel, who in turn is watching out for her pet Rose.

The cat’s perspective is the highlight of the book, and provides a lot of humour through the disdainful way in which she talks about humans and dogs, who are, by far, the most horrible creatures in her mind. Cat lovers will have fun reading Mehitabel’s comments on the world around her.

The book starts off well, with Mehitabel’s disparaging remarks working wonderfully to give us an insight into her personality. But more than 3/4th of the book is focussed on Rose the mouse, how the Donnely family discovers Rose and their reaction to the knowledge of their pet’s having a pet, and of course, Mehitabel’s own attempts to keep her pet safe. I was hoping that Mehitabel’s perspective would be more like that of Humphrey in the brilliant Humphrey the hamster series by Betty G. Birney, but her character doesn’t reach that level of development and appeal.

The story is quite basic, and ought to work for beginner readers looking to try out a full-length chapter book. However, a simple story doesn’t indicate simple comprehension as well. There are quite a few difficult words, and also some uncommon alternate spellings (e.g.: ‘galavant’ instead of ‘gallivant’) Moreover, I am not sure how to feel about the cat’s name. While it is a biblical name (for a very minor character), it is too complex for the young age group to remember, or even pronounce.

The book is officially aimed at readers aged 8-12, but I feel it may be too basic for the 10+ age group. Readers aged younger than 8 would have enjoyed the story but the vocabulary in the book might be too difficult for them. Thus targeting the accurate readership for this book is tricky. Because of the premise and writing style, it will work better for younger kids if read under (or read aloud by) a guiding adult.

There are some basic illustrations in the book, but these don’t add on to the story. Rather, they just show us a sketch of some key characters such as Mehitabel, Rose and Thomas. This was disappointing, especially after seeing that stunning cover.

Overall, it is a decent indie work, but needed some more polishing to convert that interesting premise into a more memorable storyline. But it’s quick and cute, which is always an advantage for beginner MG readers.

This is the first book in the planned ‘The Adventures of Mehitabel’ series, so I hope the subsequent books work on making the product better suitable to the right age group, either by simplifying its vocabulary for the younger MG crowd or by adding deeper nuances to the plot to suit the older MG crowd. It can’t do a bit of both and get away with it. More and better quality illustrations would also be welcome.

My thanks to author Georgia Zola, BookBuzz.net, and NetGalley for the DRC of “Mehitabel Is No Fool”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The book is available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.