Chester's Masterpiece

Chester's Masterpiece
written and illustrated With NO help from Melanie Watt
E WAT

Chester is a cat with a mind of his own. Who needs a silly author when we have his creative genius behind this book? And so the struggle begins.

Our fat tabby friend has taken over the book which is written "with No help from Melanie Watt." The cover is a hodge-podge creation with visible staples, bits of masking tape and lots of red marker.

As the story progresses we learn that Chester has hidden Melanie Watt's art supplies and computer mouse! Thankfully she has a pencil and some sticky notes, and this is how her voice is heard. Little by little, Chester's marker runs out; and litle by little, Melanie explains to readers the bits and pieces that make up a good story.


The illustrations are done with Chester fully drawn, while the rest are done with heavy red marker. You can almost hear the squeak of the marker against the paper. The dialog is snappy and will cause giggles to errupt from readers! Be sure to check out the last illustrated page to solve the mystery of the missing art supplies...and to find out if that cat really got Chester's tongue.


This is the third book in the Chester series and is currently on order at the Irving Public Library. Check out the catalog and put it on hold.

For a storytime on creative writing, you can pair this book with Mary Jane Auch's "THE PLOT CHICKENS."

Another great interactive, cat story try "THERE ARE CATS IN THIS BOOK" by Viviane Schwartz.

Review by Marianne