Catch Cat: Discover the world in this search and find adventure

by Claire Grace, Andy Council (Illustrator)

Spot the elusive world-traveling cat hiding in 7 intricately illustrated continent maps, paired with explanatory spreads featuring a selection of the fascinating creatures, people, iconic buildings, and geological features that make each continent unique.

Geography has never been more fun! Travel the world , from North America to Antarctica and every continent in between, in search of cat while you discover myriad natural and man-made wonders —all packed cleverly into the colorful maps.

Did you spot the pink dolphins frolicking in the Amazon River? Or Bran Castle, Romania’s national monument and the setting for Bram Stoker’s Dracula? How about the rockhopper penguins of Antarctica, sporting their distinctive yellow-streaked hairdos? And the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, thought to be built from 2.3 million blocks?

To discover these cool places and more, pack your bags and get ready to explore .

Genres: Picture Books, Geography

32 pages, Hardcover

Published September 3, 2019

Reviews

[PattyMacDotComma · Rating 4 out of 5]

4★
“Are you ready for a seek-and-find adventure like no other? Think you’ve got what it takes to travel around the globe and track down our elusive, furry feline friend? Then get ready for a journey like no other!”

This is a good one for visual learners, young or old, showing us all of the continents of the world in minute, vibrant, imaginative detail. Here’s the introductory page, explaining how to look for the cat.

Opening pages of the book

Each continent is introduced with a page of bright drawings with information and details of landmarks, people, creatures, and natural phenomena that are to be found there.

Some historic sights and landmarks from Europe

After reading about these sights, the reader tries to find them on the following page.

A “map” of Europe, incorporating the drawings from the previous page

And here is Asia, with the cat in full sight (middle left edge).

Asian continent

I always love maps full of things that make me want to go see them, whether it’s historic sights or monuments or flamenco dancers. I have a soft spot for maps anyway (I am MrsMap, or PattyMap when we travel), and I have a pretty poor sense of geography without them. My own little autistic quirk, I suspect.

So I’m predisposed to enjoy these sorts of books. This is bright and informative and is something that old people can use to pin children down with and regale them with stories of their own adventures. Whether the children will be as thrilled, I don’t know!

Apparently National and International Cat Day is Oct 29, so this has been published just in time for your cat-fancying kiddies.

Bright, cheerful, and horizon-expanding, no doubt. Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Wide Eyed Editions for the preview copy.

And a p.s. - here's a link to one of my favourites of this sort of format, Egypt Magnified: With a 3x Magnifying Glass, which I also reviewed: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Etienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some kind of search and find that also presented parts of the world with some facts and information. That part was okay, but the search and find was very ordinary. Also in the ebook version that I got, the illustrations of the search and find was very blurry like it was compress to fit in the page and that didn't help obviously. It have way better similar book on the market!

[Rebecca Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andy Council and Claire Grace’s Catch Cat is an educational and fun picture book that takes readers on a world tour. I like the little facts about each continent. I also enjoyed trying to find the globetrotting cat in each map. However, the illustrations in the maps were too blurry to see things in great detail.

The book is well-illustrated with large full-colour maps. Each continent gets its own section and each map is fully populated with Council’s cute and bright depictions of animals, people, and popular natural and man-made monuments. However, I wish the maps were less blurry. I really hope that this is fixed because it’s difficult to find anything.

Did you know that cattle in Austria are celebrated during a fun yearly festival? Did you also know that there are eight churches in Antarctica? I had no idea until I read this book! I really enjoy the twelve facts for each continent. They are nicely brief, interesting and informative. The lovely little depictions accompanying each fact are also a nice touch.

However, I would have liked more diversity and variation of the facts. For instance, most of the North America facts are based on The United States of America. I would have loved to learn more about Mexico. Additionally, many of the facts are nature based and I want more facts on festivals and landmarks of continents like Africa and Asia.

This book is a great introduction to the world for young readers. It will inspire an interest in geography and learning about other cultures. This book is also fun for adults because it has unusual facts about the world that we may not know.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Wide Eyed Editions for this book in exchange for an honest review.


🐱🐱🐱 cats out of 5!

[Steff Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

| Reader Fox Blog |


I'll be honest, I wasn't really the biggest fan of Catch Cat by Claire Grace. The premise behind the book, namely teaching the geography of various places in the world and intermingling it with a search and find feature wasn't bad. As a book, though, I think it sort of fell somewhat short. To fully appreciate this fact, you have to understand that the biggest reason I didn't care for this was because it reminded me of a computer game I played when I was a kid that basically does the same thing this book does...but, in my opinion, does it better. The key difference?  My First Amazing World Explorer is interactive in a way that Catch Cat, or any book, really, is not.

Honestly, there's a lot of good that comes from kids having a book like this. It's very educational--if a bit touristy--and provides a fun game (that of finding, or "catching" the cat) to keep young readers engaged throughout. And sure, it works fairly well. I can honestly say that I feel like a number of kids will enjoy reading this book and will likely learn from it.

But at the same time, the artwork is overcrowded, the text a bit dense in areas, and often leads me to imagine kids simply looking for the hidden cat and not even bothering with the rest. Everything else requires a little more sustained attention that many kids may very well not quite be in a place to be giving. Which is fine and understandable. Many children struggle to remain entertained by the same thing for an extended period of time. And I don't personally feel that the setup in this book lends itself to keeping a child's engagement once it's been garnered.

So, ultimately, while I love and appreciate the idea I don't really see this book as something I'd recommend. I'd rather it be in the format of an educational video game. 

I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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[Olga Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the idea of this book. The facts are fun for kids to learn. I did struggle with the maps - not in the way that it was hard to find the cat, but rather the style of the illustrations. They seemed much too overwhelming!

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Wide Eyed Editions for an early copy of Catch Cat, Discover the World in this Search and Find Adventure by Claire Grace. This was a cute find the hidden cat book, but with additional facts and things to find. The book was divided up by continent. For each continent you were provided with around 12 facts and then the next page you had to find the cat and items representing each fact.

The facts ranged from dry to silly, such as sloths leave the safety of their trees only once a week to use the bathroom, and there are only about 1,000 windmills remaining in the Netherlands when there used to be almost 10,000. This was a great read that you could learn from, but also have fun trying to catch the cat. (The location of the cat on each page is provided in the back if you get stuck.)

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is both a geography book as well as a Find Walldo book. I think if i had to choose between the two, I would have just had the geographical elements of this book. It seems sort of a waste to search through the images to find the cat.

On the other hand, looking at the little facts about the different continents was very interesting.



It may be when this book sees print, that the images on the maps will be cleaere, but in the review copy, they were too pixilated to see clearly where the cat might be, which could have been part of the issue.

A cut enough introduction to geography.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The continents are introduced with a teaser of landmarks and things of interest that are small portions of a map that follows. Readers can read about each item and then try to locate it on the map. The map pages look a bit pixelated (I assume they are computer generated). Given the blocky world of Minecraft, that fact may not bother kids. Has a sort of vintage charm (like you are viewing an old Pac-Man graphic). I assume the print version is less blocky and would therefore recommend that over the digital version.

Each continent has a double page spread highlighting famous landmarks, geographic features, as well as native wild life. The illustrations are well done and information is offered in kid-friendly chunks. The next double page is the continent with animals, landmarks, and other interesting features illustrated on the surface of the map. It offers children much to examine and explore. Almost like taking a drone tour above the continent and getting a bird's eye view.

The title gives readers the clue that there will be some hunting for the feline that has been travelling the world. (Rest assured, the answers for cat locations are included in the back). This is a beautiful introduction to the world for young readers. A sort of primer atlas that offers quick facts and entertaining illustrations that bring the wonder of our world into sharp focus. Perhaps these pages will inspire future world travelers!

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of Catch Cat from NetGalley for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catch Cat is a brilliant search and find book and unlike any others I have seen. The children love search and find books and they always keep them busy alone or with friends and so they love when there is a new one for them to read.

This book is so much more than a search and find book though as it is filled with interesting facts about different countries across the world. The book has a two page spread for one continent and then the following two with a big map filled with relevant sights and items to do with that country. That page is the one where you can look for cat who may be anywhere, he is trickier to find than it might first seem! As there is only one double page for each continent this means there is not as many search and find pages as the children would like but with all of the fun facts the book is filled with I don't think this takes away from the qualities of the book.

The illustrations in the book are fantastic with so much detail and bright colours to keep the children's attention and I think it's great that each fact gets its own picture as this draws the children to facts that they might be interested in and is far better at keeping them reading than plain text.

This is a really great book that we have learnt lots of new things from and all whilst having a search and find adventure across the world with cat, it is a little shorter than we'd like but definitely worth a read!

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those books that acts as a primer to geography through using a character and things to look for. Each continent gets a double-page spread, containing information, then (either portrait or landscape) we get a second spread, which is where we do our searching. It all looked very easy to me, even with a horrendously bad resolution on my netgalley copy. What I found lacking was what so many other books like this do – namely a second list you only find at the end, so you're looking back over the same pages and absorbing them all over again. Still, in the textual side of things you do get some very pleasant trivia, if that's your thing – if you wanted the weight of Christ the Redeemer, or the history of Russian nesting dolls, then here's where to turn. Also, as hardly needs saying, each continent gets an equal weight, even if some have a lot more nature to look for than in the more urban Europe. Worth considering for school libraries etc – only the use-once nature keeps it at three and a half stars.

[joyce w. laudon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book combines learning about theT continents with a search and find, I Spy concept. Each continent has an intricate picture with things to locate. The illustration for each continent is in the shape of the countries therein. The sought objects are described before each two page illustration. In addition, the challenge is to find the cat on each continent. There are many fun facts in this book; happily at the end there is an answer page so the searcher can find any thing that they ay have missed.

The resolution in the illustrations was not always clear. This is most likely not an issue in the hard copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Terrie Case · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a neat search and find concept. This book list items that can be found on a particular continent with a short description about it. Turning the page, you find a map for which the reader to search for those items. Meanwhile, try to find the cat in each puzzle.

What a fun way to impart information about a variety of things while the child thinks he/she is just playing a game. The colors are bright. The illustrations are fun. The puzzles are busy so the reader has to actually look for an item instead of it being readily apparent.


I received an ARC from Quarto Publishing through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting a review.

[Nycole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great beginner geography book. Each continent is explored, first with a 2 page spread of 12 facts then a 2 page spread of a high overview map of the continent with items to “seek and find” from the previous fact pages. The maps seem not very clear on the iPad, but I would hope the final print of the book would have clearer images. I also would have liked to see any measurements stated in both metric and English instead of just metric, especially for children who can’t comprehend meters or Celsius. Facts and information seem accurate, even I learned a few things. It would be hard to take only 12 facts from each continent and to determine what is a good representation of each continent but I feel the author did a good job representing each continent in the limited space available.

[J. d'Merricksson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catch Cat by Claire Grace is a neat seek-and-find book of the Where's Waldo type that also teaches kids about notable places to visit and things to see on each continent. There's an initial spread with information on major countries, and several things to see. Following is a spread of the continent filled with drawings representing Various regions, sites, and attractions. The goal is to find Cat and each of the items discussed on the previous pages. My qualms were with the resolution of the pictures in ebook format. Probably much better to read as a hardcopy!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an electronic ARC from Quarto Publishing through NetGalley.
A combination of Where's Waldo and information text. Grace introduces the reader to Cat and shares about his adventures. He travels the world and learns new info. The format is fun for young readers - a two-page spread of text boxes and illustrations about a continent followed by a two-page busy illustration to locate the cat. Yes, answers are provided at the end of the book.
The illustrations pop off the page and bring the information and the search challenges to life.

[Nathalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the idea of the book as well as its funny maps. The children enjoyed hide-and-seek game, but the book was a "one time read only". The images in the e-version are very blurry, the actual version in paper should be much more enjoyable.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

[Eve beinguniquebeingme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun exploration book for children to enjoy and anyone really as it's an animal version of a Where's Wally book with the same find it idea.



The illustrations are beautiful and so detailed kids will be hooked and find it a fun activity too.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

[Sally Wilsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am happy to see a book about continents. This is a fun way for children to learn about them while using their skills to find the cat. Each of the continents has a group of facts about the continent. It is a fun and engaging Seek and Find. This would be a fun way to introduce the continents in a homeschool Geography class and be able to include all ages.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.