School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Long Tail Kitty (LTK) returns in a second collection of gentle adventures. This time he goes to a magic show on a boat, makes new friends, and celebrates a birthday over four short chapters. LTK and his animal friends are unfailingly friendly and giving, and the stories demonstrate clearly the value of friendship and kindness. At one point, a dog assures the kitty, "I don't bite"; in another story, a frog surprises LTK, then asks him for a hug. This sweetness is balanced with whimsy: a "roboboat" turns out to be a boat helmed by robots, singing squirrels serenade the group at a birthday party, and Big E the elephant has magical powers. Unfussy cartoon illustrations in a simple layout make this a good introduction to comics for young readers, and the action is comforting enough for a bedtime read. The watercolor illustrations depict a pastoral, dreamy land of rolling hills and cozy houses, in a primarily pastel palette evocative of cupcake frostings. VERDICT Young readers, particularly those new to comics, will enjoy this mild, sweet confection.-Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Four small adventures in the life of Long Tail Kitty.In the first, LTK and his friend Tony, an orange cat, try to go with their elephant friend to a magic show on a robot-run riverboat, but the robobarker says that Big E exceeds the boat's weight limits. In the second, LTK and Tony go to Big E's birthday party, and LTK is put out when Big E does not open his present first. On the way home from the party, LTK gets lost when Tony goes on ahead, but he is helped out by new friend Frances. Finally, LTK calms down from the excitement by working in his garden, but Tony, Big E and Frances start a water fight. LTK looks rather like a plump, fanged, six-pointed starfish with a tail rather than a cat, but neither anatomical verisimilitude nor plot is the main event in Pien's pastel-colored animal world. The solipsistic LTK is marvelously childlike, so concerned with his relationships with his friends that sometimes he doesn't even notice that he's having a good time. Big E, befitting his size, operates as the world's nominal adult, wielding actual, unexplained magic when necessary to make things right, just like a human parent. Pien's delicately colored panels have all the appeal of a bag of jelly beans, appearing first as an abstract agglomeration of colors and then resolving into the sweetest of narratives. A cotton-candy graphic idyll. (Graphic fantasy. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.