A great kitty tail! (Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Salem's Tails You're History - Brad Strickland)

Member Name: AmyAmy

Product:	Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Salem's Tails You're History - Brad Strickland
Date:	17/05/08 (156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: exciting, good art work, educational

Disadvantages: Obviously not one for everybody!

Currently ploughing my way through the Sabrina The Teenage Witch book collection, I came to a stump when I was still awaiting the arrival of the titles I had purchased online, and found myself with nothing to read. I didn't fancy getting into anything too heavy as I knew it wouldn't be a great length of time until they arrived, so I ventured down to the local library to browse their selection.

When I stumbled across one particular book, I knew straight away that it was a winner; one I definitely wanted to give a go! It was a title in the Salem's Tails collection - a book collection written about the adventures of the teenage witch's cat, Salem. Salem Saberhagen is now a black American Shorthair cat living with Sabrina and her two Aunts in Westbridge, but once he was a warlock with one dream: to succeed with world domination! Unfortunately for him, the Witches' Council caught him with his mischievous plans and sentenced him to 100 years as a common house pet. Although Salem's days are now brought down to napping, eating tuna and prowling through Sabrina's diary, he still possesses one phenomenal characteristic: he can talk!

Basically, the magical tales are short stories, much like those from the Sabrina options, but with a younger target audience of pre-teen and young children. Nonetheless, I looked past my age and took it out anyway!

When I first opened up the book, after admiring the cute image of the black kitty on the cover, I noticed how large the text was compared to other books I was used to reading. Down at the bottom right corner of the right pages, there is a little sketch, and if you flick the pages, this sketch appears to be moving, with Salem jumping through a book. As you learn about the plot, you will find out why this is appropriate!

I began reading, not having read the blurb, so I didn't know what to expect. The story starts when Sabrina asks Salem for help with studying for her American History test. Salem, too sleepy to be of use, suggests she casts a spell and puts herself into the book to live through History. Sabrina does so, and Salem carries on with his nap.

Sabrina disturbs Salem from his sleep when she flies back out of the book a while later after a successful trip into history, and discovers that she's almost late for school. Rushing away, she leaves her history book open on her bedroom floor. Being the 'kind kitty' that he is, Salem leaps off the bed to run after her and tell her, but finds himself stumbling through the pages of the abandoned book...

As the spell had suggested, Salem has to live through history himself once more, as he had done so many years ago in his years as a Warlock. Fortunately, he thought he would be able to ace his way through the challenges in order to escape from the book.

With each chapter of the book; both the one in the story and the one I was reading, Salem faces a new period in American History. Then, he must help the historical figures solve their problems in any way he can, by encouraging them to carry out their roles the way it was done in history. He must assist great figures such as General Washington and President Lincoln, but can he solve the problems with the events accurately enough to match with American History, or will he never escape the book?


About the author
------------------------
This particular book was written by husband and wife, Brad and Barbara Strickland. They have two children (one called Amy!), and own cats themselves so have the experience and knowledge required to write this story! They've written many other books for collections such as Star Trek, and Wishbone.


Verdict...?
---------------
Obviously, if I found this book to be amazing, I'd start questioning my reading age and ability! Since it's aimed at young children, I wasn't surprised to find the context to be quite straight forward with not much description or depth. However, I am not putting it down, it was a great book and an enjoyment to read! I think it would provide a great entertaining read for youngsters who are interested in the Sabrina shows and Salem, but are perhaps not quite ready to mature onto the main novels in the Sabrina The Teenage Witch book collection!

Throughout the book, there is the odd sketch, illustrated by Mark Dubowski. They're just small pictures of Salem, rough black drawings, but very effective. At the end of the story, there is a small section about how to look after a pet cat, which I though was a nice touch but quite unnecessary, and was most likely included to add bulk to the book!

This story is a great tale for children to read, and a good way to get them to take an interest in historical events! I'll be looking out for further books in this collection!

© Amy 2008


Basic facts
--------------
Author: Brad and Barbara Strickland
Genre: Childrens' fiction
Pages: 81
Published: 1998

Summary: A great childrens' tale for those who are not yet old enough to enjoy the Sabrina novels!