Ruthven Todd (1914–1978)

Space Cat and the Kittens is the fourth and final book in Ruthven Todd's Space Cat series. The kittens are Marty and Tailspin, the offspring of Flyball the Space Cat and his mate, Moofa, the red Martian cat who was introduced in book 3, Space Cat Meets Mars. The kittens are red and gray with red tails. They look the same except for the gray tuft at the end of Tailspin's tail. Marty is the elder by a few minutes and is so proud of that fact.

The first chapter tells readers about the kittens' antics on Luna Port, where they were born. (The soup incident made me feel sorry for the chef.) It's a good thing the residents like the cat. Flyball is somewhat reluctant to take the kittens on the latest space trip, but Moofa says they must.

Not only will this be their longest voyage yet, but there will also be another human along, Bill Parks. Flyball's human, Colonel Fred Stone, brings Bill home to meet the rest of the crew. Luckily for Bill, the cats do not reject him.

This voyage will be on a new, faster-than-light rocketship named 'Einstein'. They're heading for Alpha Centauri.
The voyage takes up chapters three and four. Bill is kind enough to provide the kittens with an impromptu toy. I smiled at Fred having to get the kittens into their space suits. They may be used to traveling from the moon to Earth and back, but they hate their suits. Of course, Flyball and Moofa don't like their suits either, but they're adults and put up with Fred suiting them up.

The astronauts do find a livable planet, although it is considerably smaller than Earth. It's apparently a case of parallel evolution, although the new planet is well behind the home planet. The pygmy mammal and pygmy dinosaurs encountered make sense, given what happened to large animals stranded on islands over generations here.

Bill gets in some action, but the real danger involves Marty and Tailspin being rescued by Fred and Flyball.

I loved the fact that Flyball has implied he was better at catching birds and mice than he actually was to his sons. I also enjoyed finding out how Moofa knows when the boys have actually tried to clean themselves off or not. Marty and Tailspin are definitely chips off the old Flyball block.

While I liked Fred's comment about the natural balance of life on the new planet, and that the thought of what human settlers would probably do to the native fauna made him sigh; I am not happy that he said it was none of his and Bill's business. I also didn't like Moofa being left behind with Bill during the rescue.

Other than those things, this book was every bit as charming as its predecessors. I wish there were more Space Cat books.… (més)

First sentence: Flyball was the only cat in Luna Port, the first city built on the Moon. He was the only cat on the whole Moon. And he was a famous cat, for with his friend Captain Fred Stone, now Colonel Stone, he had travelled on the first rocket ever to go from Earth to the Moon.

Premise/plot: Flyball (the cat) and Colonel Fred Stone (the human) are the first to travel to Venus in this early chapter book originally published in 1955. In the first book, these two become the first to travel to the Moon. In fact, these two now live on the Moon--at least part time. But now in this second book, they are getting ready for more firsts. The rocket that will send them to Venus is being built on the Moon. And soon these two will be on their way. What will they find?

My thoughts: I was so disappointed in this second book. I found the first book charming enough. I did. This second one was slightly duller than I'd prefer. What they find on Venus is plants, plants, and more plants. Granted some of these plants are highly evolved and communicative. There's one that can read thoughts, for example. But at the end of the day, the two are just essentially looking at a lot of exotic space plants. Flyball also seems less cat-like in this one. Perhaps because the first book started with him being just a normal, super-curious cat that happened to wander into Fred Stone's life and just happened to become a space-travelling kitty. The origin story works for me better than this.… (més)

Space Cat Meets Mars is the third of Ruthven Todd's Space Cat series, illustrated by Paul Galdone. Flyball and his human, Colonel Fred Stone, have left Venus to get back to the moon (See book two, Space Cat Visits Venus). It's a good thing that rocketship Halley is extremely well stocked, because something goes wrong and they wind up going to Mars instead.

The pieces of Venusian moss that enabled Flyball and Fred to read each others' thoughts have stopped working, but Fred knows that Flyball understands his words. Fred understands what Flyball's behaviors mean. This means Flyball knows what Fred means when he tells the cat that he's getting fat. Flyball is shocked and starts exercising.

The landing on Mars isn't easy, but Fred pulls it off. The air is pretty thin for humans, but there's more at cat level, so Flyball gets to explore without his detested spacesuit. Fred finds the problem, which he's going to have to clear by hand.

Flyball needs to get back to the rocket before the temperature drops drastically after sundown. He meets some Martian life forms, but the prize find is a Martian cat. Moofa is female. She helps Fred and Flyball survive a storm. Flyball is quite taken with the pretty cat. Will she stay on Mars or decide to join Flyball and Fred?

NOTES:

1. See book one, Space Cat, for the rocket ZOX-1. See book two, Space Cat Visits Venus for that adventure.

2. 8 pounds is 3.6 kilograms. 10 pounds is 4.5 kilograms. 3.5 pounds is 1.58 kilograms.

Moofa's back story is a tragic one. She's a nice cat as well as being beautiful. I enjoyed her interactions with Flyball, especially Flyball explaining the relationship between Earth cats and humans. The love between Flyball and Fred is demonstrated when Flyball races back to Fred during the storm, only to meet Fred looking for him. Good thing that Moofa was kind enough to go with Flyball so she could help them survive.

The art is as enjoyable as it was in the earlier books. This book still calls Flyball a gray cat instead of a gray tabby, but I guess Mr. Todd gave in to Mr. Galdone's illustrations, because the text mentions Flyball's stripes when he meets Moofa.

This is another charming book I have no hesitation in recommending to cat lovers. If the fact that the Mars in this book does not resemble Mars as we have come to know it since this book was first published in 1957 bothers you, think of it as an alternate universe Mars.… (més)