Birdie is just a girl, a girl who bakes cupcakes and goes to school and has BIRTHDAYS. Birdie does have a secret though - she's secretly CRAFTY CAT! A cat who can craft just about anything from just about anything! When Birdie's birthday break surprise is accidentally ruined, she knows just who to turn to to make everything better.

I'm not sure who this book is intended for. It reads like a first to third grade graphic novel, but it's a little disjointed for that. I had no idea that Crafty Cat was a girl and had to go back and re-read a bit before I realized that Birdie and Crafty Cat were the same person. Harper crammed a lot into this one volume - Birdie's secret identity, her birthday, her relationships with her friends/Anya, parents, etc. It was a lot to take in in a little bit of time. While the art was stellar for little girls who love crafts, the writing could be greatly tightened up, focusing on one issue of Birdie's before introducing something else. I like the idea and hope that future volumes are more coherent.

Loved the crafts and the cat doing crafts. I ordered the book for my school library. My students will love emulating the crafts and the story that goes along with the crafts. Good for English language learners, emergent readers and those who love cats and / or crafts. Recommend for 3 grade and up.

The title's a bit misleading for kids who expect to be reading about an actual cat ... when it is in fact the alter ego of a little girl. She deals with negative situations by donning her cat persona and ... crafting. Anyhow, nicely illustrated, and lovely for crafty kids, with some project ideas at the back.
Thanks to the publisher for an advance digital copy of this book.

It’s Birdie’s birthday, and in spite of her best efforts to make everything perfect, things have gone terribly, terribly wrong. Her birthday cupcakes have been tragically lost, and the replacement treat to share with her classmates is olives and cottage cheese. But look! Who is that superhero who has come to save the day?!
“SWIRLING SPARKLES, TWIRLING TAPE, SHINING SCISSORS…IT’S THE AMAZING CRAFTY CAT!”

The Amazing Crafty Cat by Charise Mericle Harper is an engaging tale of imagination, creative crafting prowess, and the altar ego who brings it all together. Birdie is a young girl with a passion for everything Panda and a talent for creating magic with some paper, tape, and glitter. When her crafting mojo swings into full gear, she transforms into The Amazing Craft Cat, a fearless wielder of scissors and sparkles.

This altar ego, of course, exists in Birdie’s head, but that doesn’t make The Amazing Crafty Cat any less effective in a crisis. And Birdie’s crisis is one to which we can all relate, no matter our age or crafting inclinations…the horrifying prospect of being embarrassed in front of your peers. This suspenseful tale is skillfully intertwined with Panda-related craft projects (with a few bunnies and aliens thrown in for variety), which are woven into the narrative as a part of Birdie’s daily activities, daydreams, and problem-solving strategies.

Along with all of this, we get a number of important lessons about confidence, creativity, and self-acceptance. Being a creative person is so frequently depicted as an innate quality, something you are either born with or not. Artistic talent is something to be judged on a scale of perfection, a pinnacle of achievement that few are able to scale. Harper, however, explores the rich possibilities of imperfections and mistakes. She makes it clear that creative imagination is a tool that anyone can wield and that the best critique of the results comes from the satisfaction and enjoyment of the wielder.

Crafty Cat is geared towards younger readers (ages 6-10, specifically) and targets that audience very successfully. The artwork is colorful, energetic, and straightforward. Birdie’s world is filled with inanimate objects, including clouds, flowers, and tears that talk and engage with her directly. The dialogue engages the reader through multiple voices and the repetition of concepts. Perhaps most importantly, though, the story is fun for both the younger reader and the adult who will likely be reading along with them.

Harper features five projects through the course of the story and offers patterns and detailed instructions for each at the end of the volume. She keeps the spirit of the story going by giving the project images themselves animated voices that participate in the instructions and offer words of encouragement to the crafter. While I didn’t test any of these projects with any crafters in the targeted age groups, the instructions are easily understandable, especially with some adult supervision for the crafters on the younger end of the scale.

Birdie and Crafty Cat’s first adventure is a super fun and inspiring introduction to the world of crafting for which there is really no age limit. The Amazing Crafty Cat will be available on April 12, 2017, from First Second Books and is the first volume in a planned trilogy. The next installments in the Crafty Cat saga, Crafty Cat and the Crafty Camp Crisis and Crafty Cat and the Great Butterfly Battle, are scheduled for publication in August of 2017 and April of 2018, respectively. We creative crafty cats can’t wait!

The Crafty Cat escapades continue in this purrfect new series that will whisker you away to reading perfection!

Adorable graphic novel about perseverance....and crafting! Birdie's birthday is not going well, but she doesn't let that get her down - instead she finds creative solutions for her setbacks, taking on the alter-ego of Crafty Cat. Perfect addition to a middle-grade graphic novel collection.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Scott

The Amazingly Crafty Cat is first and foremost a young female reader’s graphic novel about solving problems by doing crafts. It even includes its own craft section at the end of the book (if you like pandas – Crafty Cat’s favorite). The story starts innocently enough, with Birdie, a young girl (a.k.a. The Amazing Crafty Cat) accidently dropping the panda cupcakes she made for her Birthday Break at school. Through trials and tribulations, things don’t go as planned, and The Amazing Crafty Cat has to come to the rescue. Luckily, with some simple tools The Crafty Cat seems to be akin to a deus ex machina getting Birdie out of tight spots at every turn of events. She is, however, extremely crafty in every sense of the word, and I see this young readers graphic novel as an interactive learning experience.

The writing is glib, even when breaking the fourth wall – making the reader aware that they’re actively reading and judging The Amazing Crafty Cat as they move through the novel (albeit I have a reserved opinion that this was for adults in active participation with their kids). It dwells in expository, however, and most of it could have easily been replaced with dialogue. The dialogue that was present was handled using a fine line between expository dialogue (which I do realize is necessary when writing a craft book) and plot driven dialogue. The story itself went from one craft to the next but there were plenty more to participate in at the back of the book. The crafts propelled the story and resolved the ending.  For this achievement alone Harper should be congratulated.

The art was simplistic, and minimalist. There was just enough visual material to make the crafts learnable, in fact most of the detail came out in these sections. The rest of the story was illustrated in a quirky, childlike style – easy to emulate and incorporate into crafts. The crafts themselves are kind of fun: there are panda bracelets and panda necklaces all little treasures in a young girls eyes. In fact, the target demographic of this graphic novel seemed to be aimed at a young female audience. There are also hair ribbons and things most young boys wouldn’t be interested in. The art worked well toward its intended goals. The craft sections were easy to follow, and minimal equipment is needed (a pair of scissors, paper, glue, ribbon, sparkles, etc.) The instructions are clear and simple, and can even be done without adult supervision. Overall, the art carried through its envisioned purpose.

All and all, if you have a young girl who are into crafts (I know my nieces are), The Amazingly Crafty Cat is definitely worth a look at; for male readers, look elsewhere. Be warned: most of the crafts are panda centered, except for origami bunnies. Given the nature of the subject material, children should have no problem working from craft to craft, and if the parents get involved, the pandas can easily be replaced by kittens or any other animal with a ‘box-like’ shape.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

My preconceptions of The Amazing Crafty Cat led me down the wrong path. I thought I’d get a craft-focused story of an animal who made things. Instead, this is a lightweight tale of a girl struggling to recover from a bad birthday at school.

There are a few crafts included, with templates in back, but most are just gluing bits of paper together. I expected more, and more imaginative, things to make. The simplicity of Charise Mericle Harper’s book is likely due to the target age range, from 6-10 years old. That would explain the basic, flat drawings and the straightforward, shallow story. The concept is great, but the execution disappointed me.

When making things, Birdie (a normal girl) thinks of herself as Crafty Cat and sees herself with ears and paws. This is not explained. (It’s also sometimes off-putting, as Birdie has to think of herself as a different person in order to solve problems.) Birdie is headed to school on her birthday, but the cupcakes she made get ruined. How will she save the day?

I expected more creativity than I got. For instance, there’s a bottle of olives involved in the story. I wanted to see them cut up and used to make more panda decorations (a favorite theme of Birdie’s) or turned into appetizers. But no. Instead, they are used for a joke about burps.

Backgrounds are missing except for the occasional talking flowers and clouds. I liked them for demonstrating fanciful creativity, a feature I found lacking in much of the book. Perhaps I’m expecting too much from this story, but it does say, at one point, “imagining can be fun.” The messages here, though, are muddled (as when we’re shown Birdie making crafts out of a math worksheet) and the outcome disappointing.

What drew me into this book was the adorable cover and the promise of crafts... and it delivered. Birdie is a little girl who has an secret, when she needs to she transforms into Crafty Cat! who can do all sorts of wonderful crafts.

In this issue, it is Birdie's birthday and her cupcakes are ruined on the way to school so know she has to find a way to make her birthday extra special without them. And we all know... what is a classroom birthday without cupcakes?!

After throwing an internal fit, and maybe even an external one, Birdie hunkers down as Craft Cat to find a solution to her problem.

The end of the book also includes a list of the crafts that Birdie did and how to make them at home. I think parents and kids will have a lot of fun with this graphic novel series.

Review is live on blog on April 11, 2017

This was a fun little read. The protagonist's troubles are very "normal": a school day where nothing goes as planned, a classmate who is bossy and demanding. It gets her down, but never for long. Those moments of dismay are part of what I like. Too often kids books have endlessly sunny characters who aren't bothered by any trauma. I also liked the ideas of working with regular materials, using what you've got for crafts.

Delightful read that will appeal to grown ups and kids alike!

Birdie's alter-ego is Crafty Cat, a craft loving superhero who is determined to make her birthday activity for the class super awesome with panda cupcakes she painstakingly made. When an accident happens and Birdie finds herself without her lovely treats, she must put on the Crafty Cat mantle and use her super crafting powers to make her birthday awesome and panda-riffic.

Lovely story, lovely illustrations and a cute panda craft for kids at the end. Loved this!

Amazing Crafty Cat is the first book in the Crafty Cat series by Charise Mericle Harper. It is currently scheduled for release on April 11 2017. Sometimes school can be scary and even embarrassing, but not today. Today is Birdie’s birthday, and everything will be perfect! Birdie's panda-riffic cupcakes are beautiful, and there’s one for everyone. She will be the star of the class. A trip and fall on the way to school means no more cupcakes! Who can save the day? Who can make the class smile again? This is a job for Birdie’s alter ego, the Amazing Crafty Cat! After a quick transformation, Birdie is ready. She’s not afraid of sticky paws or paper cuts. She’s not afraid of anything, even Anya, the class bully. It’s time to get crafting!

Amazing Crafty Cat is fun and cute and offers readers a look at a character with loads of imagination and determination. I liked the story, and thought the illustrations were cute. I could relate to Birdie's getting lost in crafting, overdoing things, and wanting things to be perfect. As life often goes, rarely do things run the way we envision- which Birdie learns and copes with well. I really liked the craft ideas, and the included instructions. However, as a whole, I just was not blown away. The book will certainly be a hit with some readers, and I can think of several that would read repeatedly- it just did not strike that chord with me.

Amazing Crafty Cat is a fun and creative start to a new easy reader series. I think my favorite part was the instruction on how to do the crafts that Birdie/Crafty Cat does in the story. This would make for good reading and crafting with your favorite young reader.

I'm not really sure who this book was intended for. It's quite a bit disjointed and all over the place. While I'm sure it will appeal to some audiences, there are a lot of readers that may end up putting it down because it's rambling and there are many parts that displace the reader from the storyline.

I like the creativity in this book. I think kids are going to really enjoy this book and be inspired to create! I love the how to directions in the back!

A sweet graphic novel about a "crafty cat" who can cut, glue, or craft their way out of sticky situations. The crafts at the back are adorable.

I really liked this graphic novel for littler kids about a girl who's super power is making crafts. She is resolutely cheerful and resourceful and I would love to be her friend! The drawings are simple but engaging and I really liked the directions for some of the crafts that were in the back of the book. I can't wait to share this one with my students.

An enjoyable story. I will read more of this series.

I love the way that Crafty Cat's story combines a regular school story with fun art and amazing crafts and creativity.

Bridie is a little girl who loves, loves, LOVES to craft: so much, that she has an alter ego: the Amazing Crafty Cat! Crafty Cat can craft anything, anytime! Crafty Cat becomes Bridie again so she can go to school; she's excited because it's her birthday and she's got special panda cupcakes for everyone during birthday break - even Anya, the class bully. She just knows these cupcakes will make her the school star... and then, Bridie falls, sending the cupcakes flying. She gets stains on her dress trying to pick up the cupcakes. Grandpa is supposed to come to the rescue, bringing something to hand out snack time, but that's just a disaster. Things aren't supposed to go wrong on her birthday! What is Bridie going to do? She's got hungry classmates! Looks like a job for... THE AMAZING CRAFTY CAT.

The first book in the Fashion Kitty/Just Grace author's new trilogy is just too much fun. There's a great message about teaching kids resiliency and how to fall back on Plan B... and Plan C, if necessary. Plus, there are craft ideas and template at the end of the book! You know what I'm going to say... it's a program in a book! Make Crafty Cat your next book talk/activity; do your scanning and photocopying ahead of time, and let your kids work on the crafts as you talk about things that went wrong for them (and you), and how you all bounced back from them. Such a fun addition to graphic novel and intermediate collections, you'll never keep them on the shelf. Now, we just need a Crafty Cat website with some videos...