Fred's Midnight Prowler

Sheila Martindale is poetry editor of Canadian Author and Bookman and
the author of No Greater Love.

Books written in another language usually lose something in the
translation; I suspect that both the original French-language author and
the English translator must take responsibility for the poor writing and
unlikely storyline in this one. The cat who spends its nights out and is
discovered sitting on a clutch of rare eggs, which will hatch into
valuable Romanian dancing chickens, just does not ring true. The
characters also have their problems. The kids are not actually portrayed
too badly, but there could be problems with the grandmother who, despite
being a little old lady with a grey topknot, also wears purple leggings
and uses Rollerblades decorated with sequins.

Something does not add up here. There are also several loose ends with
the plot, which ambles about in an unfocused way. Written in a flippant
style aimed at young readers, Fred’s Midnight Prowler does have its
moments of humor. And the funky illustrations by Bruno St-Aubin go some
way toward redeeming this unsatisfactory little novel. Not a
first-choice purchase.