Super Kitty- Hannah Whitty & Paula Bowles

My girls love books that challenge both gender and size bias and also love superhero books so when the illustrator contacted us to ask if we would like to read SuperKitty we were delighted to say yes!

SuperKitty is a lovely book for children who feel like others underestimate them based on their gender, size or limitations instead of the size of their spirit.

Both Littlefae and Tinyfae were very excited to read SuperKitty and since arriving it’s been a regular reread both independently and as a read aloud.

Tinyfae

I do like SuperKitty to the rescue her super clever is great like me. That doggy is mean and naughty but Kitty is good, Kitty stopped him.

Kitty gets despondent as she wants to be helpful and save the city yet is always relegated to answering phones whilst others bask in glory and adulation. There’s also some little flickers of fable as we see each of the Male superheroes have lost the reason for why they protect the city being distracted by one thing after another including wanting to look good but Kitty is the one that doesn’t give up.

Littlefae

SuperKitty is super amazing! I don’t like it when the boy heroes won’t let her join in the adventures BUT she does become a superhero because she uses her super clever powers and doesn’t get distracted

The illustrations by Paula Bowles are beautiful with a lovely balance between soft textural details such as Kitty’s fur, bold blocks of colour and tiny sharp details such as the pin board in the Agency Office, the details in the bags and luggage and especially the clever use of light and shade in the windows and building details in the background.

The exciting illustrations, the heart and gentle empowerment combines to create a vibrant and exciting urban fantasy that challenges the domination of males in the superhero world and shows that heart and smarts are just as good as strength and speed.

SuperKitty by Hannah Whitty & Paula Bowles is published by Simon & Schuster