Stimpikins by Pamela Reynolds

Synopsis:
One cool autumn day a young girl watched a drama unfold before her eyes. Because of her intervention a lifelong friendship and love developed. This love went beyond life and death. Lives were changed and barriers crossed. A respect for and communal with all living creatures were lessons learned outside of school.

Stimpy was a cat who will never be forgotten by his owner Emily. After reading about his life and escapades, readers will not easily forget this heroic, lovable, mischievous, independent, friendly and loyal cat. Based on real accounts of his life it will open the readers’ eyes to the real truth about cats. You will never look at an animal in the same way again.
(Synopsis from Goodreads).

My Thoughts:
For those of you that have been following my reviews for a while, you know I love cats, and books about cats. Cats are one of my favorite things to read about, whether it's fiction or non-fiction. I feel that by reading about cats, I learn more about them which helps me to be a better cat mom. Several years ago, I picked up a book about cats called Stimpikins. I recently found it when going through my bookshelves, and decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, I was thoroughly disappointed.

For whatever reason, I wasn't expecting Stimpikins to be a children's book. I think that's where most of my disappointment comes from. The story was written in a way that made the writing seem very juvenile. There were short, choppy sentences that made the book boring to read. It cut off the flow of the book, which made it an unimmersive experience. The other thing that bothered me were the pictures. They just didn't work. I wish the author or an illustrator would have drawn them by hand. Instead they used a 3D computer modeling program, which made the illustrations look off, and downright creepy at times.

However, there is one thing I did enjoy about Stimpikins. I thought the story line itself was really cute, even with the choppy writing. You could really tell that the author had a love of animals, especially cats. The way she loved Stimpikins, despite all of the adversity the two of them faced together really moved me. I also liked the random stories about Stimpikns, especially the one of him and the fish tank. That cracked me up.

Even though I enjoyed the story line of Stimpikins, there were many things in the book that I didn't care for. All in all, even the story line could not make the experience a great one. The writing style made the book boring at times, and the pictures were often off because of the method the author used for the illustrations. However, I do think younger children, perhaps elementary school kids might enjoy this book more than I did. 

I give Stimpikins: 2.5/5.

Want to know more about the author?
 Website: http://www.pamreynolds.me/index.htm
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6468869.Pamela_Reynolds

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.