What a beautiful story with such wonderful illustrations. I enjoyed it, my children both enjoyed it.

Thank you to the Book Guild for providing me with an E-ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I have a really complicated relationship with this book. I requested an E-ARC of it from NetGalley because I read that it was about nature conservation, a young girl and her cat. That was enough for me! If you boil it down to those concepts alone, yes - the book was enjoyable. However, "The Adventures of Ellie & Boo" by Millie Kerr is quite confusing in regards to the story's other aspects.

First, I'll start off mentioning the couple things that I did enjoy in this book. I did really enjoy the nature and wildlife conservationist ideas shared in this story. As an animal lover, it got me thinking, and I definitely felt for all of the animal characters. Next, I loved the protest and political aspect of this a lot. I think it was done very well and realistically (besides the fact that the protest was organized by a cat). I also liked the incorporation of social media. That gave the story a modern and relatable touch, which I appreciated. Lastly, I enjoyed learning about Ellie's family life and how she came to adopt her cat, Boo. However, that's about the extent to which I enjoyed this story.

For one, this book is marketed as Children's Fiction, but the main character is 22-years old and in college. The author often references college academia, as well as political terminology and ideas. Those parts alone did not feel like it would be in a book marketed specifically towards children. However, if you dive in to the character of the cat in this, she is written quite immaturely and frankly unbelievably, which does feel like something that would happen in a Children's book. I just really couldn't set aside my disbelief for the actions of Boo. So basically, the target audience for this is just incredibly confusing, and that really hindered my overall reading experience.

Also, despite this E-ARC literally being only 60 pages, this took me FOREVER to get through. I can't say for sure what the reasoning behind that was, but it was frustrating - especially considering this is marketed as a Children's book.

I know this review is jumbled and doesn't totally make sense, but I think that's a good representation of my thoughts on this book. I honestly can't really sort out my feelings on "The Adventures of Elli & Boo". I wanted so badly to like this, because it sounded so sweet and impactful. But it just... fell very short for me. I think the story had great intentions, and perhaps some kids (or teens or adults, because again - the target audience is CONFUSING) will actually take away something from this story. It just didn't work for me. 2.5/5 stars.

A short book about connecting to nature. I loved the style of writing and the fleshed out characters.
An excellent story that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Boo is a remarkably gifted kitten who finds a loving home with Ellie, a postgraduate research student at Cambridge. Boo finds she can communicate not only with other animals but also with Ellie. When Boo hears about a badger cull that is being debated in parliament, she and her animal friends, assisted by Ellie, begin a campaign to influence the decision, spreading the word through social media.
There is a clear and strong conservation message in this book, which works if Boo and the animals are to be interpreted as children, who similarly have strong opinions but need adult help for the practical issues around campaigning such as transport.
I was not entirely sure of the intended audience for this book; the language is perhaps a little too complex for readers who would have sufficient suspension of disbelief to believe in technologically adept wildlife, and there is little tension in the plot.
I am sure that this will have an appeal to those who, like me, are very concerned for the environment, but whilst I am fully in support of the conservation message, this book did not quite work for me.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a children's book about a young woman who loves animals and nature and wants to help animals in the wild. She adopts a kitten called Boo who manages to teach her to be able to communicate with them and then becomes the translator between her and other animals.

This book had a great story idea but it just wasn't a book for me and i didn't really enjoy it unfortunately.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

And honestly? I was really shocked to see this book didn't have raving reviews. Maybe it just hasn't been read enough yet. I personally loved it. I recently requested it but apparently I didn't get to it fast enough(I have a small problem of requesting too many books at once) and it went away. Someone contacted me and said that it was back on Netgalley and I immediately grabbed it again and read it all in the same day. Was it corny? Heck yeah. A cat and a woman can talk to each other and they both want to save the World? But, come on, how is that any different than other books we all read growing up that seemed impossible but became classics? Hello, a spider that writes her name in her web? The book starts out with Boo in the animal shelter, away from his family who all got adopted before him... sad, lonely, and scared...when suddenly a female face appears before him and saves the day. Having volunteered in an animal shelter for a bit, I can tell you that even the best one can be a scary place. Boo and Ellie become the best of friends and when she goes camping one day, she has no idea he has hidden in her backpack...on that trip, he meets some Badgers and learns of the culling practice that is used on badgers...I had no idea about that happening(here i was reading about badgers and the socks I was wearing at the time had cute little badgers wearing bows on their heads)... Boo immediately takes it upon himself to help those badgers and all badgers in the UK. He meets other animals who want to help and he enlists the help of Ellie who can drive and, you know, speak. As I was reading the book, I was kind of sorry I didn't have a small child to read it to and I could totally see teachers reading it to their class(do they still do that?) and all these small people everywhere ALSO wanting to help wildlife. A part of me felt like I did the first time I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH... I was so happy to see that everyone was helping each other. Anyway, you don't get a nickname like Shannie Sunshine by not being optimistic and wanting to see everyone everywhere happy and safe.

A sweet story about a girl and her cat and their adventures. I had fun reading this book and thought it was very charming. I liked that there were added illustrations in the story and the art style was cute. Overall a really fun story!

The adventures of Ellie and Boo had a promising prologue. The hook where Boo made a mistake was very intriguing. I wanted to immediately know more. The first chapter in Boo’s point of view was sweet, when it switched to Ellies it seemed like a boring answer to an interview question “tell me about yourself” it felt flat and uninteresting. Boo is portrayed as an intelligent kitten. She has opinions and views that she wants them to be known and to communicated. She tries to talk to Ellie, this part would interest my 2nd grade students because they will be able to relate this with their own beloved pets. However, the writer lost me on several occasions in the book, where it seemed like random thought and deep wisdom and political/current affair like a Brexit joke was added. “Years later a butterfly told Boo that by focusing on details instead of the big picture, Ellie failed to ‘ see the forest for the trees’ ” It took me a couple of reads to understand what the writer wanted to express. I would say this is too deep for the intended audience.
Boo manages to hide in Ellies backpack to go camping with her. Then the book, it seems to me does a random turn; to boo talking to a turtle dove about conservation?!!...Than Boo finally manages to communicate with Ellie. Actually communicate, where they can have a conversation. Then she passes Ellies phone number to a badger who has a cellphone of his own? What is happening? The story does a 360 into anthropomorphic story. Which raises many other questions for me. Boo is obviously an intelligent kitten. Is she advanced for her age? What is her intellectual age? She seems to be portrayed as a toddler but acts as a teenager. She starts going to classes with Ellie. Uses social media, types and posts on Instagram. Was she born with these abilities? Where and when did she learn them? Isn’t that a bit far-fetched? Also, badgers are apparently on social media? They have Instagram accounts and make comments!?
I appreciate the message though to use the media platforms for a good purpose.
I read the book until chapter 9 than read the last part. I think the writer need a better focus on what age group they are targeting. Also, the characters switch traits and seem flat. One-minute Ellie is loving ad attentive and next she ignores Boo and is busy studying etc. and then it is explained in a weird, adult way in chapter 9 “Boo eventually realized that it’s hard for ambitious people like Ellie to balance educational and professional pursuits against family and friendships. I think reading this book to my students will raise questions and discussion that might be interesting but will not pertain to the language arts goals of studying character traits, story progression, first before after, relationship of character to each other. I might read this book as a social studies/science resource about conservation.
Overall, I am not very impressed. The characters could be tied together and developed in a much better way. Boo could communicate with Ellie in an organic animal way but maybe not act so much like human, maybe not give badgers phones and media access and highlight more on how animals communicate in their natural habitat, which apparently Boo like to study.
It’s a nice concept but not put together as good as it can be.

I received this copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun Middle Grade read about a conservation student and her adopted cat. Once Ellie and Boo discover they are able to talk to each other, they work together to campaign against the Badger Cull.

As a conservationist I loved the theme, and I am excited for younger people to read these sorts of stories and hopefully be inspired. I think that many of the struggles that Boo faces while running the campaign are similar to how kids feel.

My only criticism would be the lack of acknowledgement that house cats are actually a huge conservation threat to birds. I think that it could have been an interesting storyline to have Boo reckon with that as well.

Sweet middle grade story about Ellie and her cat Boo; they are striving to learn more about environmental health and how to save the Earth. A nice "green" read for young readers.

This book was given to me by Net Galley.

It is a little far fetched, it is about a girl named Ellie who is able to talk to her rescue cat, named Boo.

The cat has been able to talk to other animals so she thinks that since she talks to them, that Ellie will be able to talk to her. But when she tries Ellie can only hear meowing. But one day when Ellie was talking out loud, she heard Boo answering her. It was a miracle.

After Boo told Ellie what was happening to the Badgers in the woods she was able to get the problem out to the British Government through Ellie.

My grandchildren was caught up with the book and I decided that it was really not as far fetched as I thought.
They enjoyed it!

Anthropomorphised to the nines, this book for young readers features a cat that manages to teach its ecologist human a few things. I was with it, but when they started understanding, and conversing with, each other – oh, and when the narrator declared the cat didn't like Instagram – I and it parted. I'd like the book to work – especially as it mostly concentrates on the UK's heinous badger culling ideas – but having a committee of wild creatures use the cat as go-between with the young woman concerned didn't strike me as the best way to go about things. Still, £1.99 as an ebook and a potentially positive outcome from it doesn't mean I really disliked it – it was purely the approach that did it for me.

What a beautiful short book for children to connect nature with their daily lives! Boo is incredibly loveable and a great teacher as well.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book about Boo the kitty and her owner, Ellie. Joining them for their adventures were a lot of fun, entertaining and educational.