The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Shawn Harris is a fun but bad kids jokes read. There are puns, fun, pizza, moon dust, and poetry writing/quoting worms to name a few things that this Instagram started story has. Barnett and Harris decided to take a cat (who has the great line of “meow”) through a story set on the moon. The cat is sent by some Earth scientists and generals (with interesting colloquialism) and is to stop the space rats from eating the moon.
Normally, this would be dull as cats are not known for their moon saving abilities, but this cat knows how to get the job done. They have several new friends (a toenail clipping robot and the Moon Queen to name a few) that will get them through danger, mayhem and more. They must find the path to the rat kings lair (a three headed rat that has some serious
split personality issues) and try to save the moon. And become a great hero.
Along the way you see all the stereotypes of a sci-fiction, space opera odyssey. Villains, heroes, villains that want to be heroes but are only villains, spaceships, and food in tubes. Bad “adult humor” (that is still kid friendly) and equally bad poetry (but hey, the worms’ hearts are in the right place) grace the pages. The illustrations are goofy, cartoonish, and somewhat sweet. Not for everyone, this is for ages strong 6 to aged 9-10 reader.