ANNOTATION

Originally abandoned by her actor parents who later attempt to gain custody, Cat wages a spirited campaign to decide her own fate and remain with her grandmother.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Originally abandoned by her actor parents to be raised by her unconventional grandmother, twelve-year-old Cat (Catriona Brooke) wages a spirited campaign against their efforts to regain custody.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Cat's granny, a leather-wearing, motorcycle-riding, chain-smoking psychiatrist, has raised Cat since she was little. But will Cat's TV-star parents take her away? "Bawden maintains a light touch throughout, though never at the expense of characterization," said PW. Ages 10-14. (Jan.)

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-Catriona (Cat) Brooke, 12, has always longed for a normal life. Her classmates think it must be glamorous to have famous actors for parents (though she rarely sees them and finds them insufferable). They also think her motorcycle-riding guardian and grandmother, Dr. Halina Lubonirska, is totally cool, if a little eccentric. Cat, who in her early childhood confusion and rage called her granny a "Pag," comes almost by accident to acknowledge what she's always known-that a Pag is a powerful person, the sort the makes "all the really important things happen." This realization comes in handy when she is threatened by a bully at school and when her flaky mother decides that her latest role should be that of a doting parent. When a nasty custody battle ensues, Cat draws on the Pag's strength and resilience, and some as yet untapped reserves of her own, to stand up for herself and have her day in court. Bawden has created some enormously appealing characters in this funny and very touching novel. Her light touch does not mitigate the book's serious themes and readers are given a thoughtful, tender look at family values. And, as for Cat's granny-everyone, everywhere should be lucky enough to have a Pag in their lives.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

An inspiring coming-of-age tale that's also a sweet transgenerational love story.

Abandoned by her itinerant actor parents at age six, Catriona lives with and loves her grandmother, "the Pag," in spite of the older woman's many idiosyncrasies. The Pag is not like most grannies; she's a lanky, semi-retired doctor of international renown who smokes (a lot), doesn't keep a very neat house, and wears jeans and leather when she takes Cat, now 12, for "a real zoom" on her gorgeous Harley Davidson. But she loves Cat, protecting and supporting her in her ongoing struggles with nasty schoolmates, well-meaning but misguided school authorities, and social workers. When Cat's parents attempt to regain custody of their daughter, both Cat and the Pag are horrified, so Cat takes her case to court. This is Bawden (In My Own Time, 1995, etc.) at her best; the story of Cat's battle is often funny but ultimately serious, because it is a fight to spend her life with the person she loves most. As for the Pag—she may be one of the most eccentric, most beautifully drawn grandmothers to appear on either side of the Atlantic in some time.