Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Chester's Back
Picture Book Series
For ages 5 to 7
Kids Can Press, Ltd., 2008 ISBN: 978-1554532872
Chester the cat is back. His person, Melanie, is trying to write another book and once again Chester keeps inserting himself into the story. It has to be said that this feline has a monumental ego.
Melanie's story begins with the classic "A long time ago, in a faraway land, lives a cat names Chester" and it is clear that Chester is supposed to be in the picture wearing a suitable costume that will go with the castle in the illustration. Instead Chester appears wearing a caveman outfit and carrying a red marker. He then proceeds to run away with the story telling readers about a fantastic cave cat who invented the wheel.
Not being willing to have her story wrested away from her, Melanie brings a cat eating dinosaur onto the scene, and Chester and his cave man pictures are roared away. Unfortunately Chester is not the kind of cat who is willing to give up. Being a sneaky kind of cat he gets rid of Melanie's work by simply cutting the page in half! Now what is Melanie going to do?
Whether you have met Chester before or not, you will be hard pressed not to laugh at the various goings on in this book, as the author and Chester try to take control of the story. It is hard to tell who is going to win this epic battle, and the tactics that both sides adopt are very funny indeed.
In addition to writing her first book about Chester, Melanie Watts has also written some splendid books about a character called Scaredy Squirrel. She has a talent for pulling her readers into her stories, and for giving her audience plenty to laugh at.
