Houndsley and Catina Through the Seasons by James Howe illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay

Easy Fiction Treasures

You want something simple, but meaningful. 

Quiet, but also fun. ... 

Everything you want in an easy reader. 

Everything you need in a book. Elizabeth Bird SLJ

In 2010, I talked about Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time. I adore this series - there are six titles. This book "through the seasons" contains four of these precious books:

Houndsley and Catina
Houndsley and Catina and the Birthday Surprise
Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time
Houndsley and Catina Plink and Plunk

The other two titles are:

Houndsley and Catina and Cousin Wagster
Houndsley and Catina at the Library

Each story contains three short chapters and just forty pages. In the first book Catina has decided to become an author. Her writing is dreadful but Houndsley does not want to hurt her feelings. I adore the emotional intelligence of Houndsley.  He decides to enter a cooking competition but on the day of the contest everything goes wrong. It is a total disaster. Later the pair talk about what happened.

"Trying to be the best made me nervous, and I did not have fun. If you do not have fun doing something you like to do, what is the point?"

Catina thinks about these wise words and she realises she actually does not like to write she just wanted to be famous. She decides to find something she likes to do and then practice until she can do it perfectly.

"I know something you are good at already,' said Houndsley, 'although you will never be famous for it.'   'What?'  'Being my friend."

These books are special for so many reasons:

• They are easy to read and the stories are very satisfying
• The colourful illustrations support and extend the text. 
• Catina has especially beautiful clothes.
• Each story contains gentle wisdom - very gentle
• Each story also contains a problem which is solved, sometimes in a surprising way
• These book are absolutely perfect for newly independent readers

You can see my five stars above. I think this series should be available in every school and public library.

Here are some pages so you can see the layout and text.

 Page from Houndsley and Catina and the Birthday Surprise

Page from Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time

After reading Houndsley and Catina I suggest you look for A friend like Ed.

Here are some other books you can read about unlikely friends.