Book Excerpt:
Some cats are born on Earth and never know who they really are. Others are sent. They are undercover for their years on Earth. They know who they are. They know that they are not from Earth at all. And they are part of a bigger plan.
When Kimba and Hiro were just tiny babies, only a day or two old, a human found them abandoned in a box. He brought them home.He and his wife fed them from bottles and made a nest for them in a large, white bathtub. The humans became Mama and Daddy tothe kittens, and the sisters became part of a family that included two human children: Mindy and Leia. There were also three more cats
in the house: the pure-black sisters Miss Fatty Cat and Slinky, as well as the war-torn, outdoor, wild cat, Buddy. Guarding them all was
The Big Black Beast, who barked and nipped and followed Mama around.
When Kimba and Hiro were still just gangly kittens, they discovered that they were being watched by aliens. But more shocking, they learned that they are aliens too! Through the large mirror in their bathroom nursery, Regalus (their alien cat contact) communicated
with them. The sisters learned that all cats are really from another planet. It is the job of a house cat to cohabitate with humans and
report back on their actions to the Cats in the Mirror. These reports from cats on Earth to cats in space go on all over the world.
As Kimba and Hiro talked with Regalus through the bathroom mirror, he told them about their heritage of freedom and independence from humans. He gave them a series of missions to complete. The first simply involved rubbing their fur on the humans so that the agents could track them throughout the city using mirrors located all over town. Hiro lost interest in the missions, but Kimba loved them. She was excited to be a part of something big and important. It gave her a sense of adventure and freedom. But once she escaped the house to explore outside, she discovered that the world is a big and sometimes scary place.
Then Kimba was enlisted to steal the password to Mama’s Facebook page and use it to help coordinate a worldwide cat invasion. Feeling guilty, and knowing that she should be faithful and loyal to her cat heritage, Kimba obediently began the mission. But, in the end, she could not follow through. Her love for her human family, and her fears for their safety in a world run by alien cats, won out. She failed
to complete the assignment.
After that, Kimba and Hiro agreed to stop all communications with the Cats in the Mirror to keep their humans safe. But the sisters’ destiny is too large for them to remain cut off from their feline family forever.
The Buzz:
When I finished reading and reviewing Why Kimba Saved the World, I couldn’t imagine Meg Dendler surpassing that story or the personification of the animals in her first book in the Cats in the Mirror Series. I. Was. Wrong! Once again, Dendler has developed the cats and one dog in her story to be exactly as we see them day-to-day, those of us who are cat and dog lovers. Personally, I own a black-and-white tuxedo girl, and with each page turn she leaps out at me as Hiro does this or that. Dendler possesses a talent for character development. As before, Vacation Hiro does not lack for action, dialogue and enough suspense to keep any reader engaged. When I say “any reader,” this is a book not just for the middle reader, but also for animal lovers, those who love to read about animals, grandparents and parents to read to those younger than middle readers, and anyone who loves a touch of fantasy. Included in Vacation Hiro are illustrations (created by the author’s daughter) and images of Hiro, Kimba and another cat character in the book. They add a great deal to the book’s appeal. 5-star Review, Sherry, Goodreads
In Vacation Hiro our main character, Hiro, is thrown when the family packs up and leaves without returning that night… she misses her daddy and is worried how he will sleep without her curled up next to him. She is thrown into even more turmoil when she begins talking to the forbidden cats in the mirror in her parent’s bathroom and learns of her complicated background. She brings her sister Kimba into the exploration and mystery and encounters a whole new world. I enjoyed following the parents and children to their family trip and reading how there were cats monitoring the family movements so that the two kittens, Kimba and Hiro, had the opportunity to learn and understand why they were so important to the space cats. 4-star Review, The Styling Librarian, Goodreads
Purchase the book:
All the books in the Cats in the Mirror series, including Vacation Hiro can be purchased through our bookstore.
About the Author:
Meg Welch Dendler is the award-winning author of over 100 articles in newspapers, magazines, and on web sites. She has interviewed interesting people from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Sylvester Stallone to the Archbishop of Capetown. Now alien cats and ghosts run her world. Her Moonbeam Children’s Book Award winning debut novel, “Why Kimba Saved The World,” was followed by the sequel, “Vacation Hiro,” in November of 2013, and her paranormal-style adult book “At The Corner of Magnetic and Main”–set in her very haunted city of Eureka Springs–is due out in 2015.