Stick Cat is a Children's Book Series by Tom Watson, created as a sister series to his Stick Dog books.
You remember that little kitten from Stick Dog Chases A Pizza? The one that Stripes was so fond of she wanted to make it a part of their group? Well, that cat has grown up, and is now Stick Cat. He lives with his human, Goose, on the twenty-third floor of his apartment in the city. Whenever Goose is out, Stick Cat meets with his cat friend, Edith, when she comes into his apartment through the secret hole they made in the bathroom cover so that they can enjoy their day together. However, more often than not, something comes up. And when it does, Stick Cat always takes it upon himself to resolve it with the help of Edith.
There are Five books in the series:
- Stick Cat: A Tail Of Two Kitties (May 3rd, 2016)
- Stick Cat: Cats In The City (April 25th, 2017)
- Stick Cat: Two Catch A Thief (October 3rd, 2017)
- Stick Cat: Two Cats And A Baby (September 25th, 2018)
- Stick Cat: Two Cats To The Rescue (September 24th, 2019)
Stick Cat contains examples of:
- The Cameo: In "Two Cats And A Baby", when Edith suggests that Tiffany's mother use Thanksgiving Day parade balloons to bounce down to the ground, one of them bears a noticable resemblance to Stick Dog.
- Cats Hate Water: In "Two Cats To The Rescue", on chapter 11, Baby Millie gets stuck on a log in the middle of a large puddle. Stick Cat and Edith know they have to rescue her, but neither of them want to run the risk of getting wet.
- The City: Where Stick Cat and Goose live. It's only ever referred to as "The Big City", though most of the stories take place in/around Stick Cat's apartment.
- Crossover: In "Two Cats To The Rescue", the family moves back to Goose's old neighbourhood. It's the one the Stick Dog books are set in. [[spoiler:Stick Dog and his friends help Stick Cat and Edith get Millie back to their house.
- Detachable Doorknob: In "Two Cats And A Baby", Goose and Tiffany neglect to tell Tiffany's mother about a problem with the bathroom door before heading out. When Tiffany's mother uses the bathroom, there's a "CLUNK!", and Stick Cat sees the bathroom doorknob on the floor.
- Domino Mask: The burglar who breaks into Goose's and Tiffany's apartments to rob them wears a black domino mask.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Edith becomes jealous of Millie in "Two Cats And A Baby", because she's getting so much of Tiffany's attention. Her jealousy is further exacerbated by Tiffany's mother doing the same. Stick Cat manages to change Edith mind by telling her he thinks Tiffany is saying nice things about her.
- Hairball Humor: In A Tale Of Two Kitties, while preparing her voice to sing, Edith ends up hacking up a hairball.
- Help, I'm Stuck!:
- At the start of A Tale Of Two Kitties, Edith ends up stuck in the hole in the bathroom cupboard. She insists it's because Stick Cat made the hole smaller. It happens again at the end of the book.
- The major driving plot point of A Tale Of Two Kitties is that Mr. Music, who works in the piano factory in the building across the street from Stick Cat's, got his arms stuck in a piano when the lid slammed shut on them. Stick Cat feels he needs to go over there and help him.
- In Cats in the City, Stick Cat sees that Hazel, the old woman who runs Hazel's Bagels, has fallen into her giant mixing tub and is slowly sinking into the bagel dough. Stick Cat decides he needs to go over and help her out.
- Invoked in "Two Catch a Theif". Stick Cat gets the idea to get the their stuck in the hole underneath the bathroom cabinets between Goose's and Tiffany's apartments from Edith. This is how they manage to catch him.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Edith. She doesn't so much sing as screech, and is completely unaware of how awful she is.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Edith in "Two Catch a Theif" is convinced that the burglar who came to rob Goose's and Tiffany's apartments is a good person, who's come to give them tuna (he used tuna to distract the cats so he could steal from the apartments). She believes he's taking Goose's and Tiffany's valuables to make them into toys and treats for good cats. She finally sees sense when the burglar steals all her collars.
- Improvised Zipline: In Cats in the City, Edith inadvertently comes up with this idea when she grabs a pair of cloth napkins and jumps off the fire escape with one to use as a parachute... onto a black cable leading to Hazel's building.
- Long Neck: Goose has one. It's why he's called Goose.
- Love at First Sight: In "Two Catch A Thief", when Goose and Tiffany first meet, they're enamoured with each other.
- Quizzical Tilt: Happens in each book,
- Stick Cat tilts his head to his right in an illustration from A Tail Of Two Kitties in response to Edith asking him "Can we just get me out of here?".
- Stick cat tilts his head to his right in Cats in the City when he sees Edith produce two cloth napkins to use as parachutes to get to Hazel's building.
- Sticks Cat tilts his head quizzically twice in "Two Catch a Thief". First when Edith tells him she's getting tired from being stuck in the hole between the bathroom cabinets. He does it again when he asks Edith what she said while Tuna Todd is stealing Edith's daily collars.
- Stick Cat does it FOUR TIMES in "Two Cats and a Baby" when asking Edith what she meant when she said "They were really good" in relation to sausage links (that are missing from his bowl at the time). He did it again later on when Edith states she was talking with Millie. He does is a third time when asking Edith why she's flushed the toilet before (because she was getting rid of gifts from Edith she didn't like). He does it a fourth time on page 181 when he gets a spark of an idea and asks Edith to repeat her statement.
- Stick Cat tilts his head to his right in "Two Cats To The Rescue" when asking Edith if something's wrong near the start of the book.
- Stylistic Suck: Like the Stick Dog books, the illustrations are drawn in a simplistic stick figure style.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: You can tell Edith is a female cat because she has eyelashes, and a bow on the hair that sticks up from her head.
