Do you know what your cat gets up to at night...? In "Lucas the Spy Cat", the narrators set out to learn just that—with unexpected results. (After all, you can't expect a cat to give up all its secrets!)

The story's strength is in its imagination—it's a chance for kids to let personification run rampant and dream up nighttime scenarios of their own for beloved pets. The rhymes are sometimes rather forced, and I think I would have preferred the story to break out of the rhyming constraint altogether, but the games at the end are a fun addition; there's enough variety for kids to pick whatever interests them most. (There's also plenty of detail in the illustrations to keep kids busy looking for new finds.) I could imagine this as a series, with Lucas getting up to different secret adventures each book.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

I absolutely love the cover of this book & the art - so cool & fun! I'm sure kids would be obsessed with it. I'm sure all cat owners wonder where their cats go during the day, I sure do! A great story with lots of fun & illustrations that are detailed & endless.

This is a fun little story about a family who tries to figure out what their cat may be up to during his nightly adventures. It is written in a loose rhyming pattern, and the illustrations are awesome!

While the story is fun for kids, my favorite part as an adult are the activities and creativity tips at the end of the book. I think these are a fantastic way to engage kids while also providing their grown-ups with ideas on how to help their child learn and play in a way that will spark creative thinking and imagination.

Lucas the cat loves to go out every night and meet up with his friends and his family is curious about where he goes and what he does with those friends. They attach a special camera on his collar to find out. This is a very fun picture book that includes games and puzzles at the end. Highly recommend!

This was a cute book about a family who has figured out how to spy on the family cat while he roams the neighborhood at night.
Little kids will enjoy the speculation as the family imagines what his night life is like, and the author/educator has activities at the end.
While the language wasn't as great, the pictures were really cute. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I really liked this children's book! I loved all the illustration and that there were activities at the end of the book!

I read this with my daughter. She is an animal lover, so she was very excited to see what a spy cat does.

The wording was at a good level for a young child and was fun and rhymed.
We loved seeing all of Lucas's friends and what they could be doing at night. The idea of placing a spy camera on a cat had my daughter laughing, and now she is very invested in trying it.

My daughter loved the extra content at the back of the book with creating own adventures and word search. I loved the suggestions for ways adults can foster imagination.

The illustrations were very cute and very detailed, which helped build the story.

Will be a hit with any child who loves adventure or animals.

This was a cute book. I loved the pictures, very detailed picture book. I also enjoyed the real life picture of the cat at the back of the book. I think that helps make it seem more real and grabs the kids attention as well.

The author tried really hard to rhyme throughout the entire book, so much that some sentences seemed lobbed off to fit the rhyme. A little wordy for kids but did not take away from the story.

Thank you for the ARC in return for my review.

Lucas leaves the house each night and no one knows where he goes. The family attaches a video camera to his collar so that they can record his adventures. This book has great illustrations and includes a wide variety of animals many of which seldom appear in children’s books. I especially liked that the author included suggestions for extension activities both in the preface and the appendix of the book. This would be a great addition to a preschool classroom or a home library. I thank NetGalley and Books Go Social for the opportunity to read this ARC.

My daughter and I chose this book because we have a black cat… and guess what his name is? Lukas! My daughter was ecstatic when she saw a cat that looked like our own with the same name.

This was a quick, fun read. We both really enjoyed it. My daughter is now convinced that we need. To put a camera on our cat to see what he does while we are away throughout the day.

This book had great illustrations and a cute message. Don’t ever give up on your dreams! We loved the activities at the end of this book and will probably purchase it for ourselves given our connection to the main character. Thank you for providing us this free arc and finding us our new favorite book!

We don't actually own a cat but we have two cats that visit us each day - one is a black cat just like Lucas so this book was already a hit with my 6 year old daughter as soon as she saw the cover!

We have often said we wonder where Rambo goes (he does have a name tag) when he goes off on his travels after his visits to us in the morning and evening as we have seen him at the bottom of our estate but we do know that he lives in a house on a different road, as he used to have the address and phone number on his tag - not great if he is a spy cat too!

The book is a great way to start a conversation about what might happen, and for children to use their imaginations. It is 4 stars from me for this one, highly recommended and certainly a hit in our house!!

Lucas the Spy Cat is a cute story about a cat and his secret nightly adventures in the wild. It is out there in the wild that Lucas meets up with his forest friends to help solve the problems of the day.

The books is just one of a teaching series that provides life lessons in a fun and entertaining way. With cute and colorful illustrations, the book is sure to please any kindergartner or pre-schooler. The fun and interactive activities at the end of the book is a wonderful bonus that will make learning fun and enjoyable. Five stars.

I received a DRC from BooksGoSocial through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Fun children’s picture story book! For parent and young child to read together. For older young children to read and fill in the ‘to do’ pages at the end. For Adults to enjoy the humour. For cat lovers. For cat wonderers. For tech loving children. For using your imagination. For everyone to enjoy! Thank you to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

“Lucas the Spy Cat” explores what Lucas does when he leaves home each night. His human family, in an attempt to get a definitive answer, outfits Lucas’ collar with a camera. Lucas’ family speculates that he gathers with the forest animals to solve mysteries and help creatures in need. The book is delightfully illustrated by Lei Yang.

Author Samantha Shannon includes suggestions for kids and adults to get creative juices flowing (just like those of Lucas’ family as they imagine what Lucas does at night).

This story reminds me a lot of “The Cat at Night,” though Lucas is imagined to have a good relationship with all manner of forest creatures, including those he might normally consider prey.

“Lucas the Spy Cat” is great for kids who like cats and mysteries. This story would also be great to encourage imagination.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and BooksGoSocial, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I loved the concept of this book as two girls decide to find out what their cat, Lucas, get up to at night. Will his antics live up to their imaginings? As a teacher, I think this book would provide a great writing stimulus for younger children. I did however find the rhyming got in the way of the flow of the story sometimes.

Lucas the cat disappears every night for unknown adventures, and his humans are so curious about what he gets up to that they fit a camera on his collar in order to find out.

Does Lucas go out to play a game with his teammates? Does he solve mysteries? Is he helping others? The possibilities are endless, so they wait with bated breath to find out what the camera footage will show...

The illustrations for the book were cute, and very detailed. I liked the concept and the outcome. The rhyming text could have been better though, and the story flow didn't entirely hold up.

But the activities at the end of the book, and the curiosity about Lucas' activities could be very effectively used to activate the imagination of young children about what their pets get up to, while providing them with a great deal of fun in the process.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Do you ever wonder what your cat is up to all day, the adventures it has and the creatures it encounters?

This book is all about imagination. It rhymes and reads easily and there are some great activities at the end!

And I loved seeing Jake in there! A dog from another great series by this author.

A fun book I would recommend for kids who love cats and other animals.

The only thing about this book that bothered me a little, was that some of the rhymes didn’t feel as fluent as others.

This would be a good way to encourage children to write their own stories. First an adult could read the book aloud to motivate young writers to come up with their stories about what happens at night while they’re asleep. Thinking creatively about what a family pet does at night provides a simple outline for a child’s imagination to take off.

📱E-Book Review📱

Lucas, The Spy Cat
Samantha Shannon

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This is a brilliant little quick read that also encourages interactivity too.

Anyone who owns a cat must, like me, have wondered what on earth they get up to when they slip through that cat flap and into the night.
In this book, the owners have come up with their own theories about all the exciting things Lucas does while he's out and can't wait to find out, when they pop a little camera on his collar.
What will they discover?.....

I loved this book - I always come up with super exciting theories about what our cat is doing out there all night - when most probably, he's wandering the gardens and snoozing !?

This story is entertaining and funny and I think children will enjoy following Lucas on his journey time and time again.

This rhymes which makes it the perfect story to be read aloud as it flows beautifully as you read.

I also love the really bright and colourful images that follow on each page of the story.
These are quite busy so great for smaller children to be drawn to while you read to them, and great to pause and discuss throughout the story.

At the end of the book there are also some brilliant puzzle pages for the older children to do - this would be brilliant if you have more than one child and are reading to them together.
Although to be honest - I loved doing them myself too!

A great book for any cat lovers and a lovely addition to any children's bookshelf or library. I loved this!




💕Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my ARC copy - this is my honest review 💕

I love the illustration and the concept but I am not too sure about the writing. There are bits that do not seem to connect well.