The Cat King of Havana

by Tom Crosshill, Mia Nolting (Illustrator)

Overview

Lolcats. Salsa dancing. Unrequited love. Tom Crosshill's smart and witty debut teen novel treads a colorful coming-of-age journey from New York City to Havana that will appeal to fans of books by Matthew Quick and Junot Díaz.

When Rick Gutiérrez—known as "That Cat Guy" at school—gets dumped on his sixteenth birthday for uploading cat videos from his bedroom instead of experiencing the real world, he realizes it's time for a change. So Rick joins a salsa class . . . because of a girl, of course. Ana Cabrera is smart, friendly, and smooth on the dance floor. He might be half Cuban, but Rick dances like a drunk hippo. Desperate to impress Ana, he invites her to spend the summer in Havana. The official reason: learning to dance. The hidden agenda: romance under the palm trees.

Except Cuba isn't all sun, salsa, and music. As Rick and Ana meet his family and investigate the reason why his mother left Cuba decades ago, they learn that politics isn't just something that happens to other people. And when they find romance, it's got sharp edges.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062422859
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/06/2016
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	13 Years

Editorial Reviews

06/27/2016
Cat video entrepreneur Rick Gutiérrez seeks change after his girlfriend dumps him on his 16th birthday. Rick joins a salsa band and meets dancer and filmmaker Ana, who is dealing with complicated family problems. Eager to spend more time with Ana and to explore his deceased mother’s Cuban heritage, Rick invites Ana for a summer of salsa lessons in Havana. Living with his aunt and two cousins, Rick and Ana learn that communism is not as equitable as Aunt Juanita believes. When cousin Yolanda asks the two to help a kidnapped blogger, they are threatened, endangering themselves and Rick’s family, even as Rick attempts to search for his mother’s first love and uncover the truth behind her defection during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. Breaking the fourth wall, Rick speaks directly and engagingly to readers, infusing Crosshill’s first YA novel with wry, self-effacing humor. The breezy pace and descriptions of Cuban culture soften the serious issues at hand—supply shortages, imprisonment, and secret police. Despite an improbable ending worthy of a viral video itself, Crosshill’s big-hearted novel shines. Ages 13–up. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Breaking the fourth wall, Rick speaks directly and engagingly to readers, infusing Crosshill’s first YA novel with wry, self-effacing humor....Crosshill’s big-hearted novel shines. — Publishers Weekly

“Crosshill shows the difficulties and dangers of life behind the bloqueo, as well as the vibrant culture within the country. The book begins as a standard romance, then grows to include much more. All hail the Cat King, a strong new voice in contemporary storytelling.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

Cosshill’s debut novel manages to make a book full of weighty subjects into a seemingly light read. The result is a funny, sometimes sad portrait of a teenager trying to connect with his roots and realizing that the world is more complicated than he ever wanted to know. — Booklist Online

From the Publisher

Cosshill’s debut novel manages to make a book full of weighty subjects into a seemingly light read. The result is a funny, sometimes sad portrait of a teenager trying to connect with his roots and realizing that the world is more complicated than he ever wanted to know.

Booklist Online

Crosshill shows the difficulties and dangers of life behind the bloqueo, as well as the vibrant culture within the country. The book begins as a standard romance, then grows to include much more. All hail the Cat King, a strong new voice in contemporary storytelling.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

2016-06-28
“Geeky loner” Rick Gutiérrez convinces his romantically uninterested crush to spend a summer perfecting their salsa-dancing skills in Cuba. When motherless Rick’s first-and-only girlfriend dumps him on his 16th birthday, the lolcat-video entrepreneur dubbed “That Cat Guy” by his classmates decides to take more risks. He meets the beautiful, salsa-dancing Ana Cabrera and joins her at a New York City salsa school in hopes of scoring a date. A few months later, half-Cuban, half-German Rick has progressed to a mediocre casino dancer but is still just friends with Ana. When Ana suffers a tragedy, Rick impulsively suggests they visit his dead mother’s relatives in Havana in order to reconnect to his roots and immerse themselves in dancing salsa. Improbably, off Rick and Ana go to Cuba, where living conditions are quite different than they imagined. Rick’s teen cousin Yosvany is a player who keeps flirting with Ana and pointing out the ways Rick lacks game, but at least he introduces them to Pablo, an accomplished dance instructor. The debut author is a veteran salsa teacher, so it’s unsurprising the dance descriptions and detailed music references are authentic, but several of the plot points prove beyond belief, such as how the teens are allowed to go to Cuba to begin with, not to mention eventually involve themselves in dangerous Communist-subverting activities. As a dance-filled coming-of-age tale, the story keeps the beat, but as a romance, it stumbles. (Fiction. 13-17)

Kirkus Reviews