Shy Cat and the Stuff-the-Bus Challenge
A girl learns about food insecurity in Dian Day and Amanda White’s illuminating graphic novel Shy Cat and the Stuff-the-Bus Challenge.
After school, Mila and her best friend Kit sit down for a snack. Kit eats three bananas. Mila’s mother later explains that he may not be getting enough food at home because of money woes. Indeed, Mila learns that hunger is a broad social problem and starts thinking about how to solve it.
Mila is an earnest heroine who’s eager to help her neighbors; in the course of the story, she learns about community methods for addressing food insecurity, like community gardens and school food programs. Through her, serious issues, such as the social stigma of food insecurity and the dearth of fresh fruits and vegetables at school, are tackled in a lighthearted way. When she becomes concerned that food donated past its expiration date might hurt someone, Mila draws a comic: her Shy Cat character dies after eating a bad can of spinach, though his secret “Nine Lives” power comes to his rescue.
The illustrations are sometimes striking, as on a page showing Kit eating tuna put out for a stray cat. Kit’s emotional reaction when he sees that someone has contributed a rusty, dented can to the food drive is also evocative.
In the eye-opening graphic novel Shy Cat and the Stuff-the-Bus Challenge, a girl works to help her food-insecure friends and neighbors.
Reviewed by
Peter Dabbene
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