The Adventures of Bubba and Sheba

Deborah Dowson is a Canadian children’s librarian living in Harvard,
Massachusetts.

The kittens Bubba and Sheba are born into a house where the owners, an
elderly couple, are unable to keep them. When the kittens realize that a
cruel young boy will soon adopt them, they escape into the forest where
they encounter a tribe of wild cats. There they are imprisoned until
they are released during a battle between rival cat tribes. Then they
are captured again by the animal control department. This time they are
magically transported to the home of a kind and caring child until Bubba
is captured by another tribe and Sheba is convinced by another faction
of the cat tribes to rescue her brother. The opposing tribes use the
brother and sister to further their political agendas, but it isn’t
clear until the end exactly which faction is working for peace and which
one plans to take over the world and destroy all humans. In the end the
brother and sister unite all the tribes and peace prevails.

Although there is potential in the idea for this self-published book,
it lacks many of the characteristics that make for a successful story.
There are too many characters and they are not developed enough to
create a connection with the reader. There is no subtlety in the
description of the settings and the tone is consistently serious, flat,
and devoid of humour. The plot lacks excitement and suspense and is
overly complicated for a chapter book at this level. Not recommended.