Chi's Sweet Home

vol 8
by Konami Kanata

In this eighth volume about a kitten's little adventures, Chi continues to grow and make discoveries with complete charm. She finds by accident that she can land on her feet from a fall, is encouraged by Cocchi to climb trees and leap from heights, practices stalking (a frog), lazes in the sunshine with Yohei (so endearing) and unfortunately gets an eye infection and has to wear a cone. Chi finds this extremely frustrating but quickly learns to navigate and is proud of (momentarily) solving the problem of this new obstacle she drags around with her. My favorite parts of the book were her explorations with kitten-friend Cocchi again, where they find new places to hide, have a run-in with a dog, and get trapped in a neighbor's shed. Interestingly, Chi is often reminded in this book that she is, in fact, a cat. She's puzzled by this and adamant that she's human like her adopted family, even though Cocchi points out and shows by example the many feline traits and abilities Chi has. These little books always have some bonus material in the back and volume 8 has the best yet: an origami of Chi's head with instructions on how to fold it. I'm going to make a photocopy and see if my eight-year-old can fold the kitty face.

Rating: 3/5 ......... 146 pages, 2011