Outrageous Truth About My Cat Einstein by Carol Kopec

Halloween, present day. Einstein is Kate’s black cat. Sunny is Kate’s best friend. Family pets have been disappearing and Kate is worried about Einstein. The girls suspect a ring of petnappers. But, the summer before, Sunny’s mother was sure she saw a UFO hovering over Eagle Hill.

Kate surprises a strange old woman cozying up to Einstein and is transfixed by the woman’s unusual eyes; bright blue with light blue flecks. The woman flees, and Kate is sure she is a witch. When she turns up again, Kate persuades Sunny to join her in tracking the woman down. They do, and follow her into an old mine where they receive the shock of their lives. She is an alien who has assumed human form to enable her to pass among people and pets freely for her project, the study of Earth’s animals. The girls are certain that the woman is shrinking and abducting the animals packed in marble-like spheres. When they find out that the spheres contain holograms to illustrate bodily movement patterns and personality and scientific data about body chemistry, not the real animals, they are relieved and concentrate on the woman’s friendly mission which is endangered because Earth’s silicon and oxygen are destroying her instruments. They determine to help her. She is determined to help them find Einstein and loans them a locating-sensor machine.

With the aid of the sensor, the girls ultimately find Einstein and learn a lot more about their neighbor’s son. Airee, the alien, adds tempering information about him from her ability to see into his troubled past and current motivations. (Group acceptance and cruelty to animals is touched on.)

Into this fantasy story filled with swirling colors and the theme of understanding, add the friendship of a female alien with a sense of humor. Her repartee with the girls is light and enlightening; her change of appearance from an old, gray haired, darkly dressed bent woman to a more audience acceptable short-skirted young woman is witty; and the gift of healing glead plants to the girls is her thank you and vote of confidence in the young humans.

This is Carol Kopec’s second novel. She is the author of The Mystery of Misty, a science fiction novel about a duck from the past who engages in mindspeak with a contemporary preteen to help her find a hidden treasure and save her family’s home.