Hello, friends! Our book today is Waffles and Pancake: Planetary-YUM by Drew Brockington, the first in a spin-off graphic novel series featuring the popular CatStronauts characters as kittens.

Waffles and Pancake are set for a pawesome day exploring the museum with Dad-Cat. The trio have a blast looking at exhibits on dino-cats, electricity, and even hairballs (though that last one gets them a little queasy). After an amazing visit to the planetarium, they have lunch and continue their museum adventure. But, uh-oh! After a lecture on meteors, Waffles and Pancake can’t find Dad-Cat! What are these brave young kitties to do?

Educational fun. This is the first CatStronauts book we’ve read, and admittedly, we were occasionally confused and probably missed references that fans of the series would more readily pick up. However, even as our first adventure with Waffles and Cupcake, this was a fun story that touched on some fun real-life scientific concepts, offered a nice lesson in what to do when separated from caregivers in public places, and ends on a sweet message of the fun of family adventures. One element that was unexpected and welcome was the choice to make Waffles and Pancakes’ parents divorced and to depict a friendly custody transfer – something that many children experience in their everyday lives yet is rarely shown in books that don’t center around divorce. It’s a subtle element, and nicely done. The artwork itself is fun and cartoonish, the length is fine for an elementary-aged reader, and JJ enjoyed the story very much. A fun adventure, and one that makes us want to learn more about Waffles and Pancake, as well as our local science museum. Overall, Baby Bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by a representative of the author in exchange for an honest review.)