Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
Catwoman
Louise Simonson · 2019
58/100
👎 Skip It
A DC early reader origin story for Catwoman aimed at grades one and two, with energetic illustrations and accessible text from a veteran comics writer. The format works for the age group, but the central character is a thief and the entire story is built around one joke stretched across 41 pages — which is thin even for picture books. No professional editorial reviews exist to back up a stronger recommendation, and the villain-as-protagonist framing is an odd choice for six-year-olds without much storytelling substance to back it up.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: protagonist is sympathetic criminal/thief (theft as lifestyle choice) · comic-book violence (stylized, age-appropriate level). We still scored it 58; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety75
Substance / usefulness52
Craft & writing62
Originality48
Evidence & accuracy71
Hype vs delivers62
Age-fit73
👁 Human-eye gut-check58
Penny’s verdict58
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