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A stray cat spells excitement for Karen when she decides to take the pregnant cat in, but she soon learns that caring for a litter of newborn kittens is no picnic.

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

15 people are currently reading
245 people want to read

About the author

Ann M. Martin

1,123 books3,085 followers
Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

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5 stars
126 (35%)
4 stars
67 (18%)
3 stars
123 (34%)
2 stars
26 (7%)
1 star
11 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
307 reviews6 followers
July 26, 2023
I’ve probably read this book 3 or 4 times. It was one of my favorite Karen books when I was younger and I have so many good, comforting memories when I read it now.
I try to figure out what it is about these books that were so special to me. I played Barbies to this particular story so many times. I loved the names of the kittens and how they were chosen: Tippy, Pokey, Ruby, Rosie, and Bob. I also loved the set-up of Karen’s life and how she had two distinct worlds at the big house and the little house. That as readers, we knew the names of her pets, her stuffed animals, the name of her brothers car (the junk bucket), the names of all of her neighbors, where she sat in class. I appreciate this bc when you are seven, these ARE the most important things that make up your world and that you tell everyone about. Ann M Martin thought through all of those details for Karen and made them come to life.
Profile Image for Sayo    -bibliotequeish-.
2,053 reviews37 followers
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July 29, 2020
Caring for a litter of kittens IS a picnic KAREN

When you were too old for childrens books, but too young for The Baby Sitters Club.
Ann M. Martin really is a genius to piggy back on the success of The Baby Sitters Club.

After reading the little sisters series I remember feeling like a real adult opening up that first BSC book.
Profile Image for Looney.
408 reviews1 follower
August 25, 2022
0.5/5

It’s so weird to me how when a cat has kittens, people just steal the babies. It makes me uncomfortable, I do not like it.
Profile Image for JH.
1,624 reviews
May 29, 2023
Just a fun little story about a stray cat who giver birth in Watson’s garden shed and then they task the 7-year-old with finding homes for the kittens.
223 reviews3 followers
October 20, 2023
This was a really sweet book. A stray cat wandered into the big house shed and gave birth to 5 kittens, which Karen named. Her family wouldn't let her have a kitten, so she came up with ways to distribute the kittens to friends and neighbours so they could have homes. She also gave them names: pokey, tippy, Rosie, ruby and Bob. Nancy ended up with Pokey, and Melody ended up with Bob.
24 reviews
March 7, 2012
This series of books are just flat out boring. I usually love kids books but these were such a chore to read. It's like the author is getting paid by the word so she throws as many as she can get away with into the story just to get a fat paycheck.
38 reviews14 followers
August 1, 2012
This series of books are just flat out boring. I usually love kids books but these were such a chore to read. It's like the author is getting paid by the word so she throws as many as she can get away with into the story just to get a fat paycheck.
Profile Image for Lindsay.
216 reviews7 followers
April 15, 2013
This was the first book in the series I read. As much as I rip on it now, as a little girl whose parents were divorcing, it sure was neat to have a series starring a little girl with divorced parents.
Profile Image for Amanda.
45 reviews
May 29, 2016
"I felt pretty bad. But I knew I would feel better soon. I always do."

Karen is wise beyond her years.
Profile Image for Mellanie C.
3,008 reviews3 followers
March 4, 2018
Karen finds a neighborhood cat and her newborn kittens in a shed at the Big House. Of course she wants one of her own.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews

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