Katie the Catsitter: Best Friends for Never

Author: Colleen AF Venable
Illustrator: Stephanie Yue

© Date: 2022
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Pages: 209
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Yes, graphic novel
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12
Bonus Activities at End of Book: Yes, pages of super hero/villain rankings information, author/illustrator information details, and how to draw Moritz the cat

Summary from Book: It’s back to school for Katie the Catsitter!

Katie loves skating with the Wheel-las and officially being a superhero sidekick. But now that school’s starting, everything’s changing. The Moustress is getting blamed for things Katie knows she didn’t do. Sidekick training is NOT as exciting as she’d hoped. Katie’s best friend, Beth, is back in town, and Beth’s new boyfriend is always hanging around. (Ugh!) Not to mention that all of Katie’s friends are mad at her. Fixing this will be harder than any skateboard trick! But with the help of 217 slightly out of the ordinary cats, Katie’s going to try. Can she clear the Moustress’s name, uncover the real supervillain, and become the sidekick (an the friend) she’s always dreamed of being?

Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this awhile ago.

Page Pig Thoughts: Another fun Katie the Catsitter book. This one deals with the issue of honesty and secrets. If your kid is struggling to navigate friendships, this one may really resonate with him/her. Katie is trying to navigate friendships with her peers while trying to be a good sidekick/friend to Madeline the Mousetress. If your kid is cruising through friendship issues, this is still an entertaining superhero story.

This one gets a Page Pup thumbs up. We will definitely be looking for more Katie the Catsitter books.

Family Unit: Katie lives with her mom. Katie’s best friend Bethany/Beth lives with her mother and father.

Conflict/Social Issues:

The Mousetress has been committing crimes to save animals. Something bad to do something good.
Katie is struggling because the Mousetress is seen as a supervillain, but Katie knows that the Mousetress is fighting for good things.
Some of the superheroes are just in the game for fame and a good rating.

Positive Items:

Good friends are worth sticking with, Katie and Beth find their way back to best friend status. Katie and Marie patch up their rough spot as well.
Madeline is not concerned about what other people say about the Mousetress because Madeline knows that she is doing good.

Items of Interest:

Katie’s mom works nights, so Katie is left alone a lot.
Katie is looking forward to starting sidekick training, and struggling to pick a sidekick name.
Katie and her best friend, Bethany/Beth, feel awkward around each other. Bethany decided to go by the nickname Beth while away at summer camp. Beth also got a boyfriend while away at summer camp. Katie and Beth struggle to figure out how their friendship works now that Beth is also spending time with her boyfriend. Katie avoids spending time with Beth after a misunderstanding of hanging out with Beth was actually hanging out with Beth and her boyfriend.
The general opinion of the Mousetress is that she is evil, Katie is determined to turn everyone’s opinion around. But a fake Mousetress has been going around town causing damage, which does not make the real Mousetress look good. Particularly when the real Mousetress has been reluctant to get back into the crime fighting scene after she was caught and put in prison in the first book.
Katie’s mom tries to comfort her about Beth and her boyfriend by sharing the story of her childhood best friend’s first boyfriend and how he was the worst, but learning how to balance friendship and crushes is part of growing up. then adds that Katie doesn’t need a boyfriend, girlfriend, nonbinary friend, or a defined term special friend. But at some point, Katie will have hormones that make her crazy for someone.
Due to the awkwardness of Beth and her boyfriend, Katie left Beth’s home to go wandering around. Katie’s mom is not happy about that or about Katie not having somewhere to go after school so she is not alone. Katie’s mom works to find another solution that doesn’t involve Katie hanging out at Beth’s home.
Katie’s other friend, Jess, also has a boyfriend.
Eastern Screech, Owl Guy, starts a TV show to increase his popularity. Another super hero, Stainless Steel, is in the show with him, and she is the super hero gaining all sorts of popularity.
Mr. B that runs the bodega has learned screen printing from one of the cats and is now overworked trying to keep Stainless Steel items in stock.
Beth gives a signed Stainless Steel t-shirt that was special edition from the show premier to Katie. The shirt is too big for Katie and she still feels awkward about her friendship and Mousetress being underappreciated, so she gives the shirt to her other friend, Marie, that is in the Wheel-las and lives in Brooklyn. Beth asks Katie why she never wears the shirt, Katie lies that it got stolen. Beth later sees the shirt on Marie and is super hurt. Beth and Katie then have an argument about who is being the worse friend. After Beth storms off, Marie confronts Katie about the shirt because Katie told Marie that she found the shirt. Marie is then hurt that Katie lied to her and seemed to be using her to get back at Beth. Marie then walks off too.
Katie goes to visit the Goths because they like the Mousetress. She is disappointed that they only like her because she is super evil.
Katie stumbles upon a meeting for the Sidekicks Council and meets Owl Guy’s old sidekick, The Pellet.
Katie’s mom takes away her phone because Katie was supposed to be hanging out with a neighbors small children, but she walked off and left them alone.
Katie and Madeline, the Mousetress, have an argument because Katie wants to be doing actual sidekick things, not sending emails, and Madeline does not seem interested in doing anything other than watching a Crumpet show.
Katie goes searching for her neighbor, Super Carl, that is the original super hero, and asks to be his sidekick. She is excited to be actually training, but is unimpressed with his old school ways. She goes back to Madeline and they have a discussion and understand one another better.
Eastern Screech is jealous of Stainless Steel’s popularity, so he frames Stainless Steel to make her look like a villain.
Beth’s mom turns out to be Stainless Steel. Katie gets Madeline to help Stainless Steel get her hero image back. Katie breaks the news to Beth that her mom is Stainless Steel. Katie, Madeline, and Beth dress up in Mousetress/Mini Mousetress costumes and go redeem Stainless Steel with help from the cats, of course.
Beth’s dad is oblivious to anything going on in his apartment because he is busy doing his crossword puzzles.
Super Carl tries to swoop in and get some notoriety using a freeze ray gun, but he is thwarted. Madeline Mousetress says “blech, guns” and throws his freeze ray gun in a dumpster.
Team Mousetress finds out that the fake, evil Mousetress is actually The Pellet who has been trying to help Eastern Screech keep his ratings up.
Beth and Katie find their path to best friends again through their adventure redeeming Stainless Steel’s reputation. Madeline is not concerned about the Mousetress’s mixed image.
The end of the book has Madeline, Katie’s mom, Beth’s mom (Stainless Steel), Katie, Beth, Jess, and Marie going to a museum exhibit opening.

Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):

Katie the Catsitter (Book 1) [review]
Katie the Catsitter: Best Friends for Never (Book 2)
Katie the Catsitter: Secrets and Sidekicks (Book 3) [review]
Katie the Catsitter: The Purrfect Plan (Book 4) [review]

3 thoughts on “Katie the Catsitter: Best Friends for Never”