Kitten Construction Company, A Bridge Too Fur, pun for ages 6-10

Mewberg has its brand-new, stat of the art sports stadium and it was built by cats. That’s what happened in Kitten Construction Company as the House Kittens that no other company could complete. Sampson, the engineer, Professor von Wigglebottom on masonry, Bubbles the plumber and the architect Marmalade. In the Kitten Construction Company: A Bridge Too Fur, the crew takes on a tougher challenge-to build the new Mewberg bridge. For a variety of elementary school aged readers this series will entertain them or give them motivation to read.

“No dad, it’s a Bridge Too Fur”, our 10 year-old said. “You just called it something else”. For those upper elementary school readers, you’ll appreciate the series because in a couple of ways, it’s the spiritual cousin of Dog Man. For the record I also referred to one of the Dog Man books as For Who the Bell Tolls and was corrected for that too. Aside from the book pun on the front cover, the interior jokes are also pun-tastic. It’s the humor that those ages will read and laugh at and probably share with their parents. “I know, it’s a catastrophe”, I replied to the 10 year-old who relaying quotes from the book to me.

Kitten Construction Company: A Bridge Too Fur has a slightly higher reading level then you might be expecting. There is much more dialogue and a more cohesive, serious story. Keep in mind that we’re talking about cats with a construction company that have to team up with some dogs in order to complete their next job when I say that.

A Bridge Too Fur is drawn with clear lines in a classic comic book strip style. Some of the vocabulary will be too big for younger elementary aged students to read without help. This is the reading level that our youngest is at now. He can read most two to four letter words without much hassle. However, when he encounters bigger words then those that he doesn’t know he stops reading. This book has a couple three or four syllable words that those ages will need to sound out, ask for assistance or use the large illustrations to help them sort it out.

Kids will also like A Bridge Too Fur because it’s a hard back book that feels a big kid book. Those older elementary reader will know that it’s a graphic novel. The younger readers will enjoy the layout and the fact that it’s sturdy and thicker than the ones they read when they were younger.  It’s a great all age graphic novel that those between 6 and 10 will enjoy. The cover of the book features Marmalade and Duke, the main dog on crew as they’re looking confident. There are themes of team work, acceptance and not judging a book by its cover all through this book. Adults will appreciate that these themes are done in a natural, non-preachy manner that really makes the book enjoyable for them also.

Even though this is a graphic novel, it’s a younger skewing one. For those who are a mature 10, or older this one will be too simple. However, for those younger kids who want to read something on their own this could be just the ticket.