This is the second book about Pelle ,the cat without a tail, that I read with my seven year old. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as good as our first attempt. Here Pelle follows his family to America, and visits New York, Niagara, Chicago and Philadelphia. A syndicate of gangster cats get in their minds to ”catnap” Pelle, and most of the book deals with the respective local charters’ schemes to lure him to their hiding places. Pelle falls for it every time, but is always saved by newfound friends. Really, the eye-rolling and exchanging of looks with my son, as Pelle walks into yet another obvious trap, is the best part of this. But all in all, the book feels mostly thin and episodic. The cast from back home in Uppsala is sadly missed.

Knutsson was clearly an anti racist, but also a product of his time. The way Pelle defends the ”negro cats” he meets in America is well meaning but paternalistic, and occasional breaks had to be made to explain how certain words just shouldn’t be used, and certain attitudes are just wrong. In the end, the book provided a good crash course in racism for our kid, which was alright. ( )